Ended up getting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127555
Looks like a reference design.
Ended up getting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127555
Looks like a reference design.
Technically, modifying a 6950's BIOS to have all the shaders enabled (6970) can be done with any 6950 card, 1GB or 2GB.
So I guess 'best' will be whichever one looks best in your eyes, all of them are capable to unlock those extra shaders unless there is truly a defect in the disabled shaders or the shaders have been cut per some unfounded rumor.
What about the Twin Frozr II?
Does that mean it can't be unlocked?
Your card might not be able to be recovered from the bad flash. Even if it can be saved you need a second card to boot your system from to try and flash your old card. Or some real heroics trying to force flash it from a bootable USB. I say heroics, because I wasn't able to do it with a card of mine that had a failed flash.
Keep in mind that the performance difference by simply unlocking the additional shaders isn't a lot. I just don't think it's worth the gamble without a card with a backup BIOS (like the ones I mentioned).
I was going to make a new thread but I thought I would just bring back this one. Does anyone know of any retailer still selling reference 6950s? I would really like to buy a second one that has the dual BIOS. I'm tempted to flash my existing one, but it already has the shaders unlocked, and i've read that unlocking the shaders and running it @ 6970 clocks is the better way to go since the 6970 memory timings are different which can potentially cause issues when flashing the 6950 to the 6970 BIOS. Can anyone offer any further insight on this?