ATI HD 6950 2GB 'Dirt 3' unlock - Page 2

Rodaxx · 10-03-2011, 19:20 | posts: 37 | Location: Austria

well guess the above method is the one to go, try with the different bios switches also check in gpu-z if you have a Cayman or Antilles

Sigismund · 10-03-2011, 23:36 | posts: 1 | Location: Serbia

Tried it, didn't work. I have the 20G version. Oh well.

n0b0dy · *Last edited by n0b0dy; 10-04-2011 at 09:39.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodaxx

well guess the above method is the one to go, try with the different bios switches also check in gpu-z if you have a Cayman or Antilles

I have a Cayman.bin saved by latest gpuz.

Rodaxx · 10-04-2011, 08:48 | posts: 37 | Location: Austria

well i did that now - rebooted - no shaders unlocked - so i thought - WRONG bios switch - so i switched to the other side and rebooted

in windows - i opened gpu.z and what do i see? shaders unlocked

so what happened?

n0b0dy · 10-04-2011, 09:39 | posts: 179 | Location: No where

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodaxx

well i did that now - rebooted - no shaders unlocked - so i thought - WRONG bios switch - so i switched to the other side and rebooted

in windows - i opened gpu.z and what do i see? shaders unlocked

so what happened?

Id run OCCT gpu tester on that over night and then a long gaming session of different game engines the next day to make sure its stable.

Rodaxx · 10-04-2011, 12:11 | posts: 37 | Location: Austria

so gpu caps viewer says i have only 1408 shader cores

slippy1010 · 10-04-2011, 12:51 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodaxx

so gpu caps viewer says i have only 1408 shader cores

Il check mine when I get back home, though thats not till Thursday.

bmate · 10-05-2011, 00:51 | posts: 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackZero

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

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

Quoted for glory.

I only registered to say this. If you look in the comments of that video, a commenter, @shinakuma3 noted that you only have to flip the BIOS switch and the shaders would be unlocked. So I tried it and it actually works

This probably happened to @Rodaxx btw.

Also if you don't mind I want to ask something. Is it safe to leave it this way? I don't really plan to overclock my cards(yet), but I'm lazy and don't really want to unplug the cables and open the case just to flip the switches back. Thanks!

edit: Here's a screenshot btw

dbrowny · 10-05-2011, 09:44 | posts: 9

wtf.

Is that all you did?

I have 2 of these, flipped em both and nothing changed... although my CCC slight overclocks stayed the same even though its running on the 2nd bios i thought that woulda changed :|

slippy1010 · 10-05-2011, 10:24 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

Same here both positions of the switch are the same clocks on mine.

dbrowny · 10-05-2011, 10:36 | posts: 9

Ugh... is there a way to do this with crossfire cards. Id rather not have to pull them out to flash em one by one, I swear it feels like the damn thing is gonna snap if i try to pull out the second card any harder, I just dont get how these things come out... (yes I know the press the 'lock' lever)

n0b0dy · 10-05-2011, 10:40 | posts: 179 | Location: No where

Concerning the BIOS switch. Wasnt position "2" supposed to be which is the default and is supoosedly "locked" so you cant flash? You have to switch to position "1".

In any case Im asking this cause I have flashed on both postions. Number 2 is not locked like they say, be carefull people.

slippy1010 · 10-05-2011, 11:25 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by n0b0dy

Concerning the BIOS switch. Wasnt position "2" supposed to be which is the default and is supoosedly "locked" so you cant flash? You have to switch to position "1".

In any case Im asking this cause I have flashed on both postions. Number 2 is not locked like they say, be carefull people.

On my card,
nearest to crossfire = locked bios
furthest away from crossfire = flashable

Rodaxx · 10-05-2011, 20:43 | posts: 37 | Location: Austria

why do some ppl have different pixel/texture fillrates and memory bandwiths?

slippy1010 · 10-05-2011, 20:55 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodaxx

why do some ppl have different pixel/texture fillrates and memory bandwiths?

My guess as the higher ones have their GPU & Memory overclocked.

Rodaxx · 10-05-2011, 22:04 | posts: 37 | Location: Austria

oh true thing - have the same stats with overlocked gpu and mem
it runs with 880/1375 atleast unigine heaven and 3dmark test ran without problems

n0b0dy · 10-06-2011, 02:44 | posts: 179 | Location: No where

Quote:

Originally Posted by slippy1010

On my card,
nearest to crossfire = locked bios
furthest away from crossfire = flashable

Hmm, is your sapphire one of the first batches or last?

This is intresting, cause AMD claims position 2, is locked. Yet I flashed in that position by accident thx to some magic strawberry cigarretes I was smoking

and my Asus happens to be one the LAST batches of reference cards. I can confirm its NOT locked.

Thank god for MS-DOS and ATIFLASH. Had it back in working order in less then 5 min. Almost had a heart attack though

bmate · 10-06-2011, 15:43 | posts: 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbrowny

wtf.

Is that all you did?

I have 2 of these, flipped em both and nothing changed... although my CCC slight overclocks stayed the same even though its running on the 2nd bios i thought that woulda changed :|

I swear that was everything I did, I posted that specifically because I found this thread by checking on Google whether there have been any progress with the unlocking of these card, and once I saw that comment in the video I found it actually pretty silly that that was the only thing I needed to done so I tried it.

I also just dumped the BIOS' from one of the cards. Dumped the unlocked shaders one (#2) first and I noticed in RBE, that once I acquired the BIOS from the card the "BIOS has been premodified by RBE" box was ticked. Now this either means that RBE was actually used, or that it recognises that this isn't the original BIOS. I'm also pretty sure the boxes of both the cards were factory sealed and I bought them from the biggest retailer in Romania. I don't think their clerks are modifying GPU BIOS' in their lunch breaks.

Anyway I then dumped the BIOS with the shaders locked (#1) and then the box wasn't ticked. However once I saved it and then reloaded the BIOS from the file instead of the GPU, the box has been ticked in and I didn't modify anything (except the filename, but that should be irrelevant right?)

Here are both of them for those of you who want to try it out (again #1-locked #2-unlocked)
http://www.mediafire.com/?9az5dtnypmeypi6

I hope someone eventually pops up for whom the flip the switch trick works too, because truth be told, if it wouldn't work for me, I'd be calling BS by now.

kokalo · 10-06-2011, 19:46 | posts: 1

Hi everybody, my shaders unlocked just by flicking the bios switch too!!

so i would like to ask what bmate asked as well:

Is it safe to leave it like this or since the shaders are unlocked I should try another bios. I have read at the techpowerup thread that the 6970 bios voltages are wrong for the 6950.

Also someone said that these cards do not overclock well. what would be a safe overclock to get things going?

my card is

SKU: 11188-05-50G
P/N: 299-1E186-520SA

EDIT: I just noticed that the three of us that flipped the switch have lower fillrates

EDIT 2: Fillrates increase with overclocking

Wijkert · 10-06-2011, 21:08 | posts: 9

I can confirm that flipping the switch unlocked edional shaders for me as well. Seems to me like sapphire put a custom bios in, but did't atvertise it. Thats a shame since in rocks not to have to flash my cards, especially because I am running xfire.

slippy1010 · 10-07-2011, 02:11 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

The plot thickens !!!!!
Looks like there is versions kicking about with unlocked bios from the factory.
Cards that will not unlock with any method and cards that unlock with the above guide.

All I can say, that Ive had 2 cards that where standard bios on both switch positions.
One card wouldnt unlock and the other card unlocked with the above guide.

lucifer_9mm · 10-09-2011, 04:07 | posts: 2 | Location: New Delhi, India

I followed this guide and unlocked my 6950 dirt3 2 weeks ago without any problem. The only hurdle is when overclocked to 6970 specs (880/1375) the games artifact or crash sometimes. I'm thinking about using trixx to increase the voltage, I have never done it before so I'm a bit hesitant. Is it safe to do so? Has anybody tried increasing the voltage, if yes then how much should I increase over 1.1 to keep the overclock stable?

Pill Monster · 10-09-2011, 04:10 | posts: 20,851 | Location: NZ

I'm using 880/1350 clocks with stock 6950 voltage if that helps.

1375 gave me endless problems. You can try 1.2v and see if it helps, or reduce clocks to 1350

lucifer_9mm · 10-09-2011, 04:20 | posts: 2 | Location: New Delhi, India

Thanks, will try to reduce memory clock if voltage tweek doesnt work.

I was just worried, increasing the volts might brick the card.

Skin · 10-10-2011, 21:02 | posts: 1

Hello,
I'm going to buy a "Sapphire HD6950 2GB Dirt 3" model 11188-05-50G do you confirm that this model has dual bios?