ATI HD 6950 2GB 'Dirt 3' unlock

[slippy1010]

How to unlock your HD 6950 'Dirt 3 Edition'

BIOS SWITCH
Click on pic for larger image





Part 1:


Download:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Utilities/RBE/
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...02.0.1.14.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/
http://www.sapphireselectclub.com/ssc/TriXX/TriXX.aspx

Extract programs/folders to desktop



Part 2:

1. With the computer turned OFF, set the bios switch to the position that is furthest away from the crossfire connector.
2. Make a backup of the card's bios with RBE to your desktop, and name it: unmodified-bios_1.rom
3. Copy the backup file to the atiwinflash folder, and name it: modified-bios_shaders_1.rom
4. Load modified-bios-shaders_1.rom into RBE
5. In RBE, selected: Additional features
6. Under Unlock 6950 -> 6970, select: 6970 shader count
7. Save the bios, in the atiwinflash directory, as: modified-bios-shaders_2.rom





Part 3:


1. I read that having UAC set to its lowest setting might be needed, your choice.
2. Click Start Button.
3. Type "cmd"
4. Right click the entry and select "Run as Administrator"
5. Black command prompt windows opens
6. Type "cd %USERPROFILE%\desktop\winflash"
7. Type "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0"

{the 0 means first adapter, if you have multiple cards, physically uninstall all but the one you want to flash}

8. Type "atiwinflash -f -p 0 modified-bios-shaders_2.rom"
9. The flash completed successfully and prompted to shutdown/reboot.
10. Shut the computer down for 30 seconds to a minute, and also flip the PSU power switch off.



Part 4:


1. Boot the computer up, run GPU-Z to check the shader count, which displays: 1536 Unified
2. Use Sapphire Trixx to modify the "Core Clock" and "Memory Clock" settings, to 880 and 1375.
3. Re-enabled UAC to its default setting.
4. Enjoy your new unlocked HD 6950 2gb



Locked




Unlocked

[BlackZero]

Thanks for the guide, was thinking along the same lines and found this earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIV_gQEWqPs

[Pill Monster]

Man, now this is starting to piss me off.

I can't understand why my card won't unlock, the shader count doesn't change but the clocks speeds do, so I know my flash is working.
I have the exact same card as in the screenshot, same BIOS version as well, I must have tried 50 times although only once using DOS.

OP did you actually unlock your card or are you simply passing on the info from tpu?

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Man, now this is starting to piss me off.

I can't understand why my card won't unlock, the shader count doesn't change but the clocks speeds do, so I know my flash is working.
I have the exact same card as in the screenshot, same BIOS version as well, I must have tried 50 times although only once using DOS.

OP did you actually unlock your card or are you simply passing on the info from tpu?

Yes my card has unlocked.

A little bit of history here,
My first HD6950 'Dirt 3' would not unlock, it didnt matter what I done to it.
That card died after being 3 weeks old, it got replaced with the one Ive got now.
With luck the new HD6950 'Dirt 3' that I got unlocked with no problems.

There seems to be 2 types kicking about, locked down & unlockable cards.
I read on another forum about a guy who bought 2 cards at the same time.
Only 1 card would unlock and the other would not.

[Pill Monster]

Died how?

How do I know if mine is unlockable? Maybe I cud return it, it's only a week old..

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Died how?

How do I know if mine is unlockable? Maybe I cud return it, it's only a week old..

I dont know it died, it just wouldnt fire up one day.
When I switched on the pc.

I think its down to being lucky on which card you get.

[So Sick]

wrong thread excuse me

[deluxe]

Nice guide!
Mine unlocked, I thought they were not able to

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by deluxe

Nice guide!
Mine unlocked, I thought they were not able to

Enjoy the free speed

[ShavedApe]

Big thank you I did it last night after finding this thread linked elsewhere and now I have a 6970

[Vomit]

Thanks

I have also done my saphire card dirt card.

I switched my switch with the machine powered off (no mention anywhere of how this should
or shouldn't be done, might make the difference between success and failure)

increased volts through trixx to 1.15 seems to be stable with no artifacts or driver failures


as a side note their is an option to fix riva tuner so the gpu monitor sidebar and side show gadgets
will work properly with this video card, that is a huge bonus i wasent expecting

Congrats to you all that have gained from this guide and an even bigger one to the peeps that found
out how to do it and passed the information on to the rest of us mere mortals

[dbrowny]

Hi,

Ive been doing some research on how to unlock my Sapphire hd6950 cards and the first thing I found was this guide
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159

but then I find this thread which seems to be considerably more complicated :S Im not sure which method I should follow, has anyone had experience with doing this with the techpowerup method and does it work the same as this one?

In addition, I have 2 of these cards in crossfire and have no idea how either method would be used to unlock them both. If anyone knows how to do this that would help a lot.

Thanks.

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by dbrowny

Hi,

Ive been doing some research on how to unlock my Sapphire hd6950 cards and the first thing I found was this guide
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159

but then I find this thread which seems to be considerably more complicated :S Im not sure which method I should follow, has anyone had experience with doing this with the techpowerup method and does it work the same as this one?

In addition, I have 2 of these cards in crossfire and have no idea how either method would be used to unlock them both. If anyone knows how to do this that would help a lot.

Thanks.

You can try the thread from tech power, I tried it in the past and it would not unlock my 6950. So I made the above guide on how I done it.

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by Vomit

I switched my switch with the machine powered off (no mention anywhere of how this should
or shouldn't be done, might make the difference between success and failure)

Good point, Ive edited the guide to state to have pc turned OFF.

[Rodaxx]

which revision/product # did you unlock?

i've just ordered a 11188-05-50G Dirt 3 Edition, but there are also 11188-05-20G available

[Codeman]

Awesome...just picked this card up from NewEgg on Thursday (11188-05)

Every reviewer said it wouldn't unlock. Followed your instructions and it unlocked on the first try and is running like a champ! Thanks!!

[Rodaxx]

(11188-05) all dirt3 have this number - the number after is interessting. could you look it up pls?

[Vomit]

Sorry, not had chance to look up the number yet, label cant be seen without taking the card out
of my pc, i will have a look on the box for you soon, its in the garage loft at the moment so might be a day or so.

[thatguy91]

RBE doesn't unlock a lot of the non-reference cards, the W1zzard script does. Most reviewers try and use RBE with non-reference cards, so they mistakenly claim they're unlockable.

Very few cards are totally unlockable, and the reason would be more to do with a completely stuff locked part of the GPU more than it being purposefully unlockable.

[Rodaxx]

well the w1zzard script does flash another bios - don't know what should make the difference with this method.

wizzard clearly stated, that his method is only for reference cards and non-ref cards should use RBE

Update 2: Above method is only for 2 GB HD 6950 reference design cards. If you have a custom design or 1 GB card, then use RBE to modify your existing BIOS. Save the BIOS from your card, load it into RBE, enable the shader unlock option on the last tab, then flash that modified BIOS to the card instead of the one downloaded from this page.

[slippy1010]

Originally Posted by Rodaxx

(11188-05) all dirt3 have this number - the number after is interessting. could you look it up pls?

Mine has:

PN 299-1E186-220SA
SKU# 11188-05
P/N: FC00230-R0
SL128B1

[Rodaxx]

well thank you

[Vomit]

mine is a 50G

has anyone attempted successfully or otherwise to alter the clock speeds through RBE and
save the overclock and volt mods directly to the cards bios?

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by Vomit

mine is a 50G

has anyone attempted successfully or otherwise to alter the clock speeds through RBE and
save the overclock and volt mods directly to the cards bios?

Yep but I couldn't unlock the shaders. Mine is 50G also.

[n0b0dy]

This should only work on reference cards.
Tech power up has a report on which brands seem to be more succesful.
So far Asus seems to be the highest percentage.
Guess I got unlucky with mine, shader would unlock could see them in GPU-Z, but was not stable.