The TRUTH behind unlocking the AMD Radeon HD 6950

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by compudaze, Feb 21, 2011.

  1. main_shoby

    main_shoby Guest

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    thanks for detailed review =), makes me think :p
     
  2. Scyphe

    Scyphe Guest

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    At least there's potential for higher overclocks due to a higher voltage (1.175v instead of 1.100) on the GPU.

    When I tried unlocking only the shaders my card maxed out at 860Mhz, then it kept crashing. With 6970 bios I'm stable @ 920/1450.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2011
  3. compudaze

    compudaze Member

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    Well, I was stable at 920 using afterburner to raise voltage to 1.175. 1.165 in AB would crash at 920 while 1.175 works fine.
     
  4. Stukov

    Stukov Ancient Guru

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    Is that Intel i5 a quad core?
     

  5. compudaze

    compudaze Member

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    Yes, the i5 2500K is a quad core CPU.
     
  6. Stukov

    Stukov Ancient Guru

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    Have you tested a lower resolution (such as 1680x1050)?
     
  7. Taint3dBulge

    Taint3dBulge Maha Guru

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    I have a max res setting of 1680x1050.. But i also play with 3 screens 3840x1050 which the same, saw a max fps of 50 without the unlock and 66 with the unlock.... I do turn down the AA and such to 4x.

    So... Also this is back when i was running 10.12's.. I could try it with the 11.2 driver and see what the differences are in the 2 games if i have time... I know there was a big difference when i unlocked the card and it wasnt "the placebo effect" either.



    Ah just thought of something.. I cant remember when i tested it when it was locked, if i had oc'd it or if it was normal.. Cause i know when i unlocked it i just cranked up the core and mem to max oc. 950/1450 hmmm.:3eyes:
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2011
  8. The Chubu

    The Chubu Ancient Guru

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    Use 6970 bios for benchs, then you can judge.
     
  9. compudaze

    compudaze Member

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    I tested with a real 6970 bios and the results were exactly the same as my "modded" bios at the same speeds.
     
  10. yelsewshane

    yelsewshane Banned

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    I better comparison would be to benchmark a 6950 unlocked to 6970 vs a genuine 6970. I would be interested in seeing that comparison.
     

  11. 3dPlayer

    3dPlayer Banned

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    so why the 2 extra pins for more power ?the 6970 overclocks more than the 6950?
     
  12. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    hmm, Instead of flashing the whole damn card, he rather unlocked the shaders instead, very good idea cause you could run into instability issues with the memory timings after flashing the card, could happen.

    If the timings are to tight, could get a blank screen, mauaha, if this is the case, you can always re-flash it back with the black screen, LOL.
     
  13. compudaze

    compudaze Member

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    The extra 2-pins on are only more ground wires.

    The 6970 does have a higher TDP and the chips used are binned for 6970. As a result, they could potentially clock higher. I was able to get my 6950's to 1GHz while I've seen 6970's hitting 1.1GHz.
     
  14. Xaser04

    Xaser04 Guest

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    The extra 10-15fps you saw were most likely the result of comparing a locked (1408 shader) HD6950 at stock clocks to a unlocked (1536 shader) HD6950 at 950/1450.
     
  15. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    10-15fps increase isn't a major jump if you're already above 100fps. Percentages are more relevent for a review as opposed to stating actual FPS gains because the FPS gains can be misleading if the original framerate isn't stated.
     

  16. Neo Cyrus

    Neo Cyrus Ancient Guru

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    In a game it struggles to barely get 5fps in of course the increase you get is going to an insignificant increase. I got more than a 3% increase from unlocking, but I don't play ****ty unoptimized FPS games. Cranking it to 1GHz doesn't hurt either, brings it to GTX 580 territory. I call mine a 6970, I'd call it a 6950 if I thought it had an inferior core which couldn't make the cut as a 6970, but that's not the case. With the stock cooler it did the artificial OC max (which was... 950/1450?).
     

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