WARNING! xfx 6970's no longer have a bios switch, and are still using a REF model #

[happy medium]

thumbsdown:Just a heads up for all you 6970 buyers. They are now made from cheaper quality components and no longer have a bios switch.
Xfx has also not changed the picture or the model #'s on the box to let customers know that they made the change till they unbox it snd have to pay a shipping/restocking fee.

New revision features are as follows.

quote:
"-The use of cheaper SMT components
-The speaker is missing
-A memory power phase is missing
-There is a ceramique cap and a few inductors near the PCIe power plugs
-No BIOS switch
-No backplate "


http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1601246

 

[flexcore]

booo

 

[LagunaX]

First off XFX cards are so highly binned they have such a small overclock ceiling from my XFX 6870 and 5870's I've owned. Asus and Sapphire always had more headroom for overclock.
Now they get cheap on the component side as well.
Very little eXtreme about XFX anymore...

 

[notty22]

The fellow had issues with the 6970 I believe. The flagship.
The community will have to follow this and see if this happens to the 6990 also.

 

[happy medium]

The fellow had issues with the 6970 I believe. The flagship.
The community will have to follow this and see if this happens to the 6990 also.

Thanks I corrected my OP


What? I just looked on Newegg and the XFX 6950 2gb NO LONGER HAS the bios switch either! :thumbsdown:

Quote from reviewer on April 9th.
"Cons: This card doesn't have the BIOS switch so if that's what your looking for this isn't the card your after. Not a big con for me anyways"

edit: just took a closer look on Newegg, it seems all the new 6950 revisions no longer have a bios switch.

 

[alcoholbob]

Well something has to pay for that warranty.

 

[Avalon]

Sounds like good times...

 

[Ben90]

Very little eXtreme about XFX anymore...

concurred

 

[Wag]

Time for me to grab another 6950 before only unlockable ones are available.

 

[Wuzup101]

Time for me to grab another 6950 before only unlockable ones are available.

I'm glad that I grabbed a pair of them before they lost the switch (I knew it would happen). They happen to be XFX cards as they had the best price AR at the time (ironically).

 

[Idontcare]

Why did they bother with the switch if they were just going to phase it out anyways? Seems like a wasted effort of engineering resources in the first place.

Was it supposed to go somewhere, like enabling easier factory OC settings or some such that just never came to fruition?

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

But when you buy the card there's nice big picture that normally shows the Pci-e slot where a person can see if its a reference or not.
Maybe they unlocked the 6950 themselves and selling them for 6970s dunno

 

[Will Robinson]

You can follow this saga by visiting any of the 6 or so websites where he has already posted this rant.

 

[3DVagabond]

Too bad they've changed things. They have 3 different 6970 listed on their website (xfxforce.com). This is the cheapest one. I wonder if it's all 3 or if it's just the "budget" model?

There's nothing to unlock on the 6970. They are already fully functioning chips. Probably won't be missed, since at this point in time I haven't seen any custom BIOS for the 6970. Not so happy about the apparent "cheapening" of the card though. Unless, like I said earlier, it's just the lower priced model. Do we know?

Just wondering if this has actually been verified. All we have is a forum post and one review on Newegg as proof. I wonder if we should be posting stuff like this without any qualifiers in case it, or any part of it, turns out to be false?

 

[Skurge]

Title doesnt say where this info is from. Might want to change that happy.

XFX did something similar to the 4890 a few years ago. Im not surprised.

I wonder if the default bios is write protected.

 

[Keysplayr]

Wasn't something similar done with the 5870? Came out with a non reference cheaper card that nobody liked or wanted for some reason?
Skurge says this was done with 4890. It was done with 5870 and now the 6970,6950. So this will apparently be a common practice if they have done it the last 3 gens?

 

[3DVagabond]

Wasn't something similar done with the 5870? Came out with a non reference cheaper card that nobody liked or wanted for some reason?
Skurge says this was done with 4890. It was done with 5870 and now the 6970,6950. So this will apparently be a common practice if they have done it the last 3 gens?

has it been done with the 6950 too? It doesn't say that. Since the 6950 is the model that everyone wants to flash, that would be an important change. So, has it been done to the 6950 as well? Or did you just throw that number into the mix yourself?

 

[Keysplayr]

has it been done with the 6950 too? It doesn't say that. Since the 6950 is the model that everyone wants to flash, that would be an important change. So, has it been done to the 6950 as well? Or did you just throw that number into the mix yourself?

Change your tone.
I'm just going by what happy said in post 5. I haven't looked myself as of yet. But I will now.

EDIT: Guess what. Happy was right

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...th%20Eyefinity

XFX 6950 (695A) doesn't have a bios switch. To be honest, I never knew 6950s had one in the first place.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Too bad they've changed things. They have 3 different 6970 listed on their website (xfxforce.com). This is the cheapest one. I wonder if it's all 3 or if it's just the "budget" model?

There's nothing to unlock on the 6970. They are already fully functioning chips. Probably won't be missed, since at this point in time I haven't seen any custom BIOS for the 6970. Not so happy about the apparent "cheapening" of the card though. Unless, like I said earlier, it's just the lower priced model. Do we know?

Just wondering if this has actually been verified. All we have is a forum post and one review on Newegg as proof. I wonder if we should be posting stuff like this without any qualifiers in case it, or any part of it, turns out to be false?

XFX HD-697A-CNFC<-----Cheaper one. Clear as dayliight from the pic its the referance one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-517-_-Product

XFX HD-697A-CNDC<--- Lower clock 20usd more. Clear as daylight its the non referance one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-531-_-Product

Think someone thought oh cool higher clocked gpu its cheaper let me buy it

EDIT: Correction the 2nd one 20mhz higher clocked

look at the model numbers of the 6950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Order=BESTMATCH&Description=xfx+6950&x=22&y=6

They were probably out of stock and sent the OP one of the new stock

 

[3DVagabond]

Change your tone.
I'm just going by what happy said in post 5. I haven't looked myself as of yet. But I will now.

EDIT: Guess what. Happy was right

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...th%20Eyefinity

XFX 6950 (695A) doesn't have a bios switch. To be honest, I never knew it had one in the first place.

That's not the reference 6950 you linked to. It's not even a 2gig version. It's the 1gig which never had the option.


Exactly what are you talking about, my tone? Just telling me where you got that info is all that was needed. There was no intended "tone" to my post.


@happymedium has the reference 2gig 6950 lost the BIOS option? I didn't notice where you had slipped that in until keysplayr pointed it out. Are you just going by one Newegg review?

 

[nitromullet]

XFX HD-697A-CNFC<-----Cheaper one. Clear as dayliight from the pic its the referance one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-517-_-Product

XFX HD-697A-CNDC<--- Lower clock 20usd more. Clear as daylight its the non referance one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-531-_-Product

Think someone thought oh cool higher clocked gpu its cheaper let me buy it

EDIT: Correction the 2nd one 20mhz higher clocked

If you look at the model number of the guy's card it's a HD-697A-CNFC V1.1. What he's saying is that they've switched from the HD-697A-CNFC (reference) to the HD-697A-CNFC V1.1 (non-reference) without changing the model number on the box or notifying retailers.

 

[Keysplayr]

That's not the reference 6950 you linked to. It's not even a 2gig version. It's the 1gig which never had the option.


Exactly what are you talking about, my tone? Just telling me where you got that info is all that was needed. There was no intended "tone" to my post.


@happymedium has the reference 2gig 6950 lost the BIOS option? I didn't notice where you had slipped that in until keysplayr pointed it out. Are you just going by one Newegg review?

And here you go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-530-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...th%20Eyefinity

6950 2GB version without bios switch!!

 

[insurgent]

Off-topic but why is someone with ties to one company a super moderator here? What help can he possibly give except market for Nvidia? And why cling to it instead of stepping down?



Please read the rules and guidelines

Moderators are allowed to post as members without their modship being called into question

Please refrain from this in the future


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[3DVagabond]

And here you go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-530-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...th%20Eyefinity

6950 2GB version without bios switch!!

Sorry, but those links aren't to reference versions either. That's OK though. Don't worry about it. I really doubt they've been changed. If so, I'm sure happymedium will supply the evidence. It's his claim after all.

 

[3DVagabond]

Off-topic but why is someone with ties to one company a super moderator here? What help can he possibly give except market for Nvidia? And why cling to it instead of stepping down?

Report the post and leave it at that. You seen this mod comment posted enough time by now to know better.

If you suspect a fellow member's post is in violation of the posting guidelines then you are expected to limit your response and engagement with that post to be nothing more than simply reporting it.

Idontcare
Super Mod