Guide Simple way to unlock Sapphire HD6950 Dual Fan Editions to HD6970

Card Used/Needed -

SAPPHIRE HD 6950 1GB GDDR5

SAPPHIRE HD 6950 2GB GDDR5

SAPPHIRE HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 Dirt3 Edition

Stock Settings (I am using a 1GB version) -

A Little Story Behind -

I had overclocked my card to 900/1275 and was going to overvolt to get further. Before that i decided to read some user experiences at newegg. Saw this -

Bios Switch unlocks 6970 shaders.

So thats how the fun began.

How to Unlock -

1. You need to have a Sapphire HD6950 with a dual fan cooler. 1GB or 2GB both have good chance of unlocking.

2. Make sure the card is running at stock 800/1250.

3. Turn off the system, open the cabinet side panel and locate the BIOS Switch on the card. Its near crossfire bridge connector.

4. Flip the switch towards right.

5. Reboot.

6. Open GPU-Z and you shall see this hopefully -



7. Now you can overclock it to 880/1375 (the HD6970 speeds) (Note - Every card is different. Some cards may need overvolting to get to 880/1375. Overclock at your own risk)

My Overclocking Update -



This is at Stock Volt.

Temps during BC2 (UPRIVER) -



Benchmark Comparisons -









Metro scores in line with HD6970 (settings same) -

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-448-core-review/18

AvP Comparison -

Spoiler

AvP D3D11 Benchmark Report

==========================

**************************************************

* Report Created: 2011-12-15 @ 11:12:39

**************************************************

* Executable Build: V1.03, Apr 19 2010

**************************************************

*DX11 Hardware Detected*

Using Video Settings from file <C:\Users\Jassu\Documents\AvP Benchmarks\Tests\avp_tool.txt>:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Texture Quality: 3

Shadow Quality: 3

Anisotropic Filtering: 16

SSAO: ON

Vertical Sync: OFF

DX11 Tessellation: ON

DX11 Advanced Shadows: ON

DX11 MSAA Samples: 4

Benchmark Summary:

Number of frames: 4959

Average Frame Time: 21.1ms

Average FPS: 47.3

Use command-line option '-logframetime' to report performance frame-by-frame.

Scores in line with this -

http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/page7.html

UNIGINE -

Spoiler

880/1375 (1536) -

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1679/capture5yb.png

800/1275 (1408) -

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/6215/afterdb.png

 

[chaqli]

Nice!

And good examples of misleading graphs due to improperly chosen axes.

 

[devvfata1ity]

Actually I have a Sapphire 6950 2GB Dirt 3 Edition & it dint unlock as it was having a antilles chip instead of cayman. But since its plenty fast enough without the additional shaders (the extra shaders add max of 3-5% performance), I have OCed it to 950/1450 now. And at these speeds it eats the GTX 580.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

Nice!

And good examples of misleading graphs due to improperly chosen axes.

thanks.

ok, i will change the graphs tomorrow.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

changed the graphs and added metro and AvP comparison.

 

[NHS2008]

Good tut. I had unlocked an MSI 6950 into 6970! Then I oc'ed it to 950/1450@1275mV. What a blast it was!

but I undid the OC as theres not much need for it now.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

thanks NHS2008. yeah thats the reason i didn't oc more.

 

[Leshy]

thanks this was helpful

 

[hhhcliff]

another sucessful unlock thanks for tutorial and betw i think nhs meant his gc peformed awsm jask

 

[mrcool63]

another succesful unlock.. awesome but dude certain points

1. For some it does not recognize.. in such circumstances switch back, uninstall drivers then switch the bios and reinstall drivers..

2. for some they need to flash the bios with the modded 6970 bios to get it to work..

 

[Altair]

Unsuccessful. I tried switched it towards right but nothing happened. :\ Help me out please.

 

[vyral_143]

Mine is working perfectly though haven't OCd it yet as getting enough juice

 

[kuhnas]

Good for every .Good tut. I had unlocked an MSI 6950 into 6970! Then I oc'ed it to 950/1450@1275mV. What a blast it was!

but I undid the OC as theres not much need for it now.

 

[Altair]

Good for every .Good tut. I had unlocked an MSI 6950 into 6970! Then I oc'ed it to 950/1450@1275mV. What a blast it was!

but I undid the OC as theres not much need for it now.

Is your 6950 1gb or 2gb? Mine didn't Unlocked.

 

[Freaky]

Is your 6950 1gb or 2gb? Mine didn't Unlocked.

Aren't the unlocks applicable only for the 2gb version ?

Edit: Read through. Didn't know it works on both

 

[Faraz]

Didnt worked on mine

 

[Altair]

Didnt worked on mine

You have 1gb or 2gb?

 

[Faraz]

2gb twin frozr iii.

 

[Altair]

Oh man. I tried everything. But failed.

Has anyone tried it on the 1GB version and succeeded? Please tell me how you did it? Feel free to PM me.

 

[Akash]

I have xfx 6950 2gb xxx edition.please help me out.

i have i5 3570k and p8z77 v pro.

 

[Altair]

I have xfx 6950 2gb xxx edition.please help me out.

i have i5 3570k and p8z77 v pro.

#[member='mrcool63'] help this guy out here mate.

Or should i forward the msg you sent me to him?

EDIT: message was deleted.