Sapphire Non reference 6950.... stay away

[[XC] hipno650]

So being bit with the bitcoin bug I decided to go down to the local shop and pick-up a 6950 card with the intentions of unlocking it to a 6970 and getting some decent gaming and Mining form it. I grabbed the cheapest one they had and proceeded to install it in my system. the first issue I had was right after I took it our of the box. It was a non reference card despite having the same model number and being advertised as the reference version. meaning it was not flashable with the 6970 bios. I proceeded to attempt to unlock the shadders as can be done on some other non reference cards but with no luck. I then attempted to OC the thing in an attempt to "get my moneys worth" I was greeted by a hard limit of 840mhz via CCC. not much to be had there. now comes the fun part. I fire up GUIminer and let her burn for a bit. temps were pretty good actually with it staying below 75 on the stock cooling and fan profile. however I was browsing the web to see if i could find some different ways to unlock her and BOOM. I have never heard a pop so loud come from electronics... it almost threw me off my chair haha. the entire PC powered off and I was greeted with the lovely smell of burnt electronics. Upon examining the card it seems that the VRM area exploded. needless to say i will be returning it and most likely getting a full blow 6970 reference design. something that can take a little bit of load haha.

anyway I just thought I would let you know that the Sapphire non reference 6950 1GB or 2GB are not the cards your looking for *jedi hand wave*

[HuffPCair]

Did you check your pants to make sure nothing popped there either? haha

I am in the same boat about the bitcoin thing though. i have been looking at an AMD card since my 460 doesnt do crap compared to the AMD cards.

[shoota]

I have the HIS 6950 coming in two days and now you're scaring me lol. At least you got it at a local shop and returning is easy and basically free.
I was under the impression unlocking shaders won't help mining anyway..right?

[don_xvi]

Incorrect, more shaders is more parallel computations is more megahashes.

[[XC] hipno650]

I have the HIS 6950 coming in two days and now you're scaring me lol. At least you got it at a local shop and returning is easy and basically free.
I was under the impression unlocking shaders won't help mining anyway..right?

unlocked shadders will make a larger difference in mining than it will for gaming. It's a pretty bid deal. I was only getting about 314mhash from the 6950 at 840mhz compared to other who have 6970's @ 950 pulling over 400mhash. I was able to reserve the last XFX 6970 my local supplier had so I will be taking back this hunk of junk and getting a real card.

[shoota]

Incorrect, more shaders is more parallel computations is more megahashes.

poop.

unlocked shadders will make a larger difference in mining than it will for gaming. It's a pretty bid deal. I was only getting about 314mhash from the 6950 at 840mhz compared to other who have 6970's @ 950 pulling over 400mhash. I was able to reserve the last XFX 6970 my local supplier had so I will be taking back this hunk of junk and getting a real card.

poop.