6950 flashed to 6970

[BFG10K]

I have a really hard time believing that AMD did not see this coming... Pretty sure that little lever switch was designed for this type of thing... Oh well, I guess we will never know unless AMD comes clean.

I tend to agree. It's one mighty coincidence that a dual-BIOS switch was implemented (practically unheard of on a GPU, outside of exotic non-reference overclocked parts), and now suddenly 6850s are being flashed with basically 100% success rates. And if something goes wrong, just flip the switch and you’re as good as new.

Like I said, way too much of a coincidence to think it’s accidental.

 

[BFG10K]

Despite what some say, aniso quality looks absolutely perfect to my eyes in the games I've tried. No noticeable noise or 'quality bands' like before. And I'm one of the guys who *immediately* saw a degradation in AF quality when I went from my old 8800GTS to a 5870.

That’s very interesting, but I can’t say I share the same sentiment. To me the 6850 visibly shimmers more than Fermi parts (and even the 5770) in detailed/busy textures, such as the metal surfaces in AvP 3.

I have an IQ analysis forthcoming about this, and much more.

 

[dust]

That’s very interesting, but I can’t say I share the same sentiment. To me the 6850 visibly shimmers more than Fermi parts (and even the 5770) in detailed/busy textures, such as the metal surfaces in AvP 3.

I have an IQ analysis forthcoming about this, and much more.

Please forgive my ignorance but, isn't the 69xx line different somewhat than the 68xx?

 

[Jhatfie]

Gigabyte and Sapphire 6950 unlock success. Both running happy at 6970 default speeds of 880/1375.

Only problem I have had is that with them in crossfire and while running eyefinity, I have had my center monitor go blank randomly for a few seconds. Never happened before with my 5850's.

 

[BFG10K]

Please forgive my ignorance but, isn't the 69xx line different somewhat than the 68xx?

As far as I'm aware the texture filtering is unchanged from the 6800 series.

 

[evolucion8]

But there's an option in the Catalyst A.I. which says High Quality which is supposed to bring better AF than the standard Quality setting which is the default for all AMD cards, that brought me back memories of the X1k series.

 

[HurleyBird]

As far as I'm aware the texture filtering is unchanged from the 6800 series.

That's what I thought to, though I don't have an HD68xx to compare. Also might be a change in the latest drivers.

If there is some kind of obvious flaw in 69xx AF, I'm sure I'll notice it eventually (I always do. Bit of a curse really). However, I can already tell that I like the new implementation better than the HD5xxx one (those banding zones were super annoying!)

 

[jacktesterson]

AMD is releasing a new PCB for the 6950's that will disable flashing....

So get your 6950's now folks if you want a free upgrade to a 6970.

AMD has basically admitted that the 6950's are basically a software crippled 6970 as of right now


Im going to try my 6950's this weekend and hope it goes well, as I couldnt afford them to begin with!!

 

[3DVagabond]

AMD is releasing a new PCB for the 6950's that will disable flashing....

So get your 6950's now folks if you want a free upgrade to a 6970.

AMD has basically admitted that the 6950's are basically a software crippled 6970 as of right now


Im going to try my 6950's this weekend and hope it goes well, as I couldnt afford them to begin with!!

Do you know this for certain? Or, are you just quoting from the linked articles that speculate they will?

 

[hclarkjr]

http://www.techpowerup.com/137448/AMD-Revising-Radeon-HD-6900-Series-PCB.html
TPU usually has accurate information

 

[BFG10K]

That's what I thought to, though I don't have an HD68xx to compare. Also might be a change in the latest drivers.

I’ll have a 6950 soon, but I’m almost 100% positive there are no changes to texturing.

Also the observations were done with the latest Catalyst 10.12 drivers. Anyway, these sorts of things can’t be fixed by drivers because they’re done at the hardware level.

However, I can already tell that I like the new implementation better than the HD5xxx one (those banding zones were super annoying!)

The transitions are reduced but the texture aliasing has visibly increased.

 

[BFG10K]

But there's an option in the Catalyst A.I. which says High Quality which is supposed to bring better AF than the standard Quality setting which is the default for all AMD cards, that brought me back memories of the X1k series.

These observations were done with HQ and surface filtering optimizations disabled. HQ is better than Q, but it still visibly shimmers compared to a Fermi.

Anyway, I'm probably getting off-topic now, so carry on.

 

[Alaska Wolf]

AMD is releasing a new PCB for the 6950's that will disable flashing....

So get your 6950's now folks if you want a free upgrade to a 6970.

AMD has basically admitted that the 6950's are basically a software crippled 6970 as of right now


Im going to try my 6950's this weekend and hope it goes well, as I couldnt afford them to begin with!!

The change of PCB won't eliminate the ability to flash the BIOS(s). The cards will still have the ability to switch between two different BIOS's.

And it's not certain it will preclude the ability to unlock the card either, although that's the assumption.

 

[evolucion8]

AMD is releasing a new PCB for the 6950's that will disable flashing....

So get your 6950's now folks if you want a free upgrade to a 6970.

AMD has basically admitted that the 6950's are basically a software crippled 6970 as of right now


Im going to try my 6950's this weekend and hope it goes well, as I couldnt afford them to begin with!!

In that case, means that their yields are great.

 

[badb0y]

Totally craps on the rumors saying delay was caused by yield issues, lol.

 

[HurleyBird]

These observations were done with HQ and surface filtering optimizations disabled.

That's the reverse of the settings I'm using (HQ on, surface filtering observation on).

Another question is how much of the shimmer is due to undersampling, and how much is due to LOD bias differences between Nvidia and ATI.

And then there's the rumors that some kind of fix for undersampling is coming in a future driver revision (although personally I wouldn't be surprised if this just turned out to be a slider that controlled LOD bias)

HQ is better than Q, but it still visibly shimmers compared to a Fermi.

Actually, I think Q shimmers less than HQ at the expense of sharpness. IIRC HQ uses a -.35 LOD bias, while Q is somewhat less negative.

 

[Jules]

Hmm, thinking of picking this up over my GTX 460. I also want a bigger monitor. What to do...

 

[dust]

I didn't want to start another thread for this, I just want a few suggestions:

I'm having a hard time deciding between a 6950(Sapphire, Gigabyte, HIS) for 437$ vs a 570(Gainward, Palit) for 500$. There's a Leadtek option for 540$ also.

The HIS 6950 is actually slightly cheaper @ 421$.

My current monitor is a 22inch, I'm planning to upgrade to a 26 inch as soon as I can. My Cpu would probably hold me back, but even though, I'll probably not upgrade it for another year or so.

I might be able to sell my 4870's for ~ 120$ together.

Do you think it's worth going ahead or not?

 

[HurleyBird]

what currency is that in? seems expensive.

 

[dust]

The rates are different in Europe, the prices I got from www.emag.ro , some newegg like site, I converted them to US dollars however.

 

[Modular]

I tend to agree. It's one mighty coincidence that a dual-BIOS switch was implemented (practically unheard of on a GPU, outside of exotic non-reference overclocked parts), and now suddenly 6850s are being flashed with basically 100% success rates. And if something goes wrong, just flip the switch and you’re as good as new.

Like I said, way too much of a coincidence to think it’s accidental.

Wait, you're telling me you can also flash a 6850 to a 6870? If that's the case, I'm buying one today.

 

[badb0y]

Wait, you're telling me you can also flash a 6850 to a 6870? If that's the case, I'm buying one today.

No.

 

[HurleyBird]

Hmmm.. in Xbit's 6950 review they OC'd the 6950 to something like a 1480 memory clock, and that's confirmed using the lesser memory chips at their default 1.5V (6970 runs mem a 1.6v). Perhaps the memory is also identical -- just binned lower and given a different label?

Either way, that's one more confirmation that GDDR5 speeds are mostly limited by the controller as opposed to the ICs.

 

[hclarkjr]

just bought an XFX 6950 for $260 shipped from for sale\trade forum even though i have no plans to flash it, i want the warranty

 

[Mistwalker]

After flashing my 6950s to 6970s and then back (to the shader-unlocked 6950 version) performance was inexplicably bad in games and 3DMark.

Doing a complete sweep and reinstall of the drivers fixed the performance issues. Not sure if everyone else has been doing this (common sense?) but if you flash your cards and the FPS/scores don't go up as expected, try reinstalling the hotfix driver.