6950 flashed to 6970

[jackstar7]

I've never messed with Xfire, so is it possible to have both cards installed without enabling Xfire? Could you then try to flash that bios of the "bad" card while running off the good card?

Did you flip the switch back to the other position to try and boot from the original bios?

Just not sure what other troubleshooting you might have tried.

 

[badb0y]

Hey all, new to the forums, and starting off with some bad news (for me at least anyway) and a word of warning about attempting this bios flash if you are an idiot noob like me.

I got myself a pair of XFX 6950's and bios flashed them to the 6970 spec. Kept getting artefacts in 3D, so decided to backtrack and reflash them back to their original bios's.
First card flashed back smooth, no problems....
But then i take out the first card and stick in the 2nd one to go to flash that back too, turned my pc on, and BAM... instant artefacts all over the place, from the moment i turn my pc on and it starts loading up the motherboard welcome screen, windows 7 loading screen, desktop etc etc, wobbly artefacts are everywhere.
So i uninstall CCC, do the usual safe mode driver sweeper thing, then boot again (artefacts still everywhere) and reinstall CCC, hoping it may fix things. After its done installing it of course tells me to reboot, so i do, except now whenever i get to the Windows 7 logo loading screen, i just get a blue screen of death, stating something about a Video driver reset timeout error. So now i cant get back into windows to unflash the 2nd card!
I've tried flicking the switch on the card to reset the bios, but i still get the same scenario of artefacts straight away from boot, straight into a BSOD at windows loading screen.
So i'm guessing that i must have done something wrong and fried something like the core or the memory... and now i cant flash it back, meaning its doubtful i can get a refund on the card (even though it would be dishonest to do so now of course, but that kind of cash is a lot for someone who only works a part time job :\)

Any suggestions, ideas, advice, cash donations (joke) would be very helpful.:\:'(
Thanks.

Weird, the people who reported problems with the flash were able to unflash it easily. Also the switch is not a BIOS reset it's a dual BIOS, one of which cannot be overwritten. Flick it on 1 (I think) and turn it on, should come up as a 6950 fine.

 

[3DVagabond]

There could very well be other issues with the card. If it won't run on the write protected BIOS, then it's not likely the bios flash gone wrong.

You can install both cards and flash one card while running the PC off of the other. You just have to make sure you flash the correct card. There will be GPU0 and GPU1 in your system, IIRC. Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable enough to talk you through it. I did have it explained to me once a few years ago. IIRC, it was W1zzard of TPU fame that helped me out at the time. Maybe BFG10K, or someone else here could talk you through it.

 

[Jules]

hmm still on the fence about getting this over my gtx 460 i got now.

 

[Aikouka]

hmm still on the fence about getting this over my gtx 460 i got now.

Well, the thing is... the 5870 has been on sale twice so far (at least that I've seen) for $200. The 5870 and 6950 are fairly comparable cards, but the latter will still cost you around $300. If you consider the "free performance upgrade", it might be more beneficial to you!

 

[Jules]

Well, the thing is... the 5870 has been on sale twice so far (at least that I've seen) for $200. The 5870 and 6950 are fairly comparable cards, but the latter will still cost you around $300. If you consider the "free performance upgrade", it might be more beneficial to you!

Would it be better to get the 5870 for 200 then the 6950 for 280 with a free gigabyte mouse?

 

[3DVagabond]

Would it be better to get the 5870 for 200 then the 6950 for 280 with a free gigabyte mouse?

I would think w/22" monitor your gtx460@850 core clock would be fine? If not, then depending on what games you play, a 6950 reference unlocked to 6970 should do the trick. I would go with that before the 5870.

I didn't read earlier in the thread. Is there some reason you don't want a 2nd 460? That would be the best bang 4 the buck, if your system can do SLI, and you aren't opposed to dual GPU.

 

[endlessmike133]

I would think w/22" monitor your gtx460@850 core clock would be fine? If not, then depending on what games you play, a 6950 reference unlocked to 6970 should do the trick. I would go with that before the 5870.

I didn't read earlier in the thread. Is there some reason you don't want a 2nd 460? That would be the best bang 4 the buck, if your system can do SLI, and you aren't opposed to dual GPU.

his monitor is probably native 1080p in which case a 5870 is far better than a GTX 460, especially at 200$ its a steal..

jules, the 5870 is better than the 6950 in a lot of ways so just get that

 

[Jules]

I would think w/22" monitor your gtx460@850 core clock would be fine? If not, then depending on what games you play, a 6950 reference unlocked to 6970 should do the trick. I would go with that before the 5870.

I didn't read earlier in the thread. Is there some reason you don't want a 2nd 460? That would be the best bang 4 the buck, if your system can do SLI, and you aren't opposed to dual GPU.

Never really thought about getting another GTX 460. Ill give that some thought.

 

[zod96]

I did it to my xfx 6950, all went well, but now in 2d mode when scrolling I get artifacts :-(

 

[zod96]

Flashed mine. But now in 2D mode it has artifacts all over the screen when scrolling. I think I will go back to the original bios

 

[MTDEW]

Flashed mine. But now in 2D mode it has artifacts all over the screen when scrolling. I think I will go back to the original bios

Just use the modded 6950 one that unlocks shaders, that way you wont have any extra voltage.

 

[zod96]

Oh I didn't even know their was one...can you point me to where that bios is

 

[MTDEW]

Oh I didn't even know their was one...can you point me to where that bios is

That may take a bit since the thread at techpowerup is HUGE! LOL
But that is where i got it from to flash both my 6950s.
I'll see if i can find it.
If not, i did save a copy on my hdd.

 

[MTDEW]

XFX 6950 unlocked shaders bios
Here is where it came from (post #63) so i'm not taking credit for someones work.
http://www.overclock.net/ati/899639-6950-6970-unlock-thread-7.html#post11817905
Now this isn't the bios i used since mine are sapphires, i'm still not sure it even matters , but just to be safe, i looked for an XFX 6950 bios.
I'd rename it to something shorter for flashing.
As a matter of fact i just renamed mine to unlock.bin and then downloaded and used THIS batch file to flash.
I just renamed my 6950 unlocked shaders bios to unlock.bin and replaced the unlock.bin that came with the package to flash using the batch file included.
Yeah, it was the lazy way to do it, but it was easier...LOL

All info came from here. (which is a good read btw)
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=137136&page=18
And the "link to the link" for your xfx 6950 unlocked bios is in post #446

 

[zod96]

Excellent thanks man