Want HD6950 CrossFireX with unlocked shaders and higher CCC limits?

[VigVoodoo]

This works with CrossFireX, you will not need anything other than Catalyst Control Center to overclock after following the guide. Only the GPU voltage is changed, memory stays at HD 6950 defaults. You will still have power control options too.

What this guide does:

1. Flashes a modded Asus HD 6950 bios with a GPU voltage of 1.175, unlocks to 1536 unified shaders, default GPU overclock of 810MHz

2. Raises CCC limits to 1620/2500

Here's the step by step guide:

810 MHz Factory GPU Overclock at stock HD 6970 voltage ( 1.100V + 0.075V )
1250 MHz DDR at stock HD 6950 voltage and timings
1620 MHz GPU Catalyst Control Center Overdrive limits
2500 MHz DDR Catalyst Control Center Overdrive limits
1536 unified shaders

Do not use or type the quotation marks

1. With your computer off make sure the bios switch is set to the "1" position, the position furthest from the CrossFireX bridge connections

2. Download this file, right-click it and select "Extract All..." to "C:\" or to wherever your Windows root directory is

3. If you have CrossFireX, disable it now

4. Click the Windows Start Menu button

5. Type "cmd" and press CTRL+Shift+Enter

6. A black window will appear, this is the Windows command prompt

7. Type "cd \hd6950flash" in the command prompt and press Enter

8. Type "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0" in the command prompt and press Enter

9. A progress bar will appear and disappear

10. Type "atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.bin" in the command prompt and press Enter

11. A progress bar will appear and disappear

12. A window verifying the bios flash will appear, click "OK"

13. A window asking to reboot will appear
13a. If you have an HD 6950 CrossFireX setup click "No" and continue to step 14
13b. If you have a single HD 6950 click "Yes" and continue to step 20

14. Type "atiwinflash -unlockrom 1" in the command prompt and press Enter

15. A progress bar will appear and disappear

16. Type "atiwinflash -f -p 1 bios.bin" in the command prompt and press Enter

17. A progress bar will appear and disappear

18. A window verifying the bios flash will appear, click "OK"

19. A window asking to reboot will appear, click "Yes"

20. After the computer reboots you might see a window saying you need to install video card drivers, reboot again

21. Open the "C:\hd6950flash\SmartDoc674" folder

22. Launch the "setup" application to install Asus SmartDoctor, follow the on screen instructions

23. After the computer reboots, launch Asus SmartDoctor

24. Under Asus SmartDoctor's settings, check the "Overclocking range enhancement" option

25. Click "OK"

26. Exit Asus SmartDoctor

27. Uninstall Asus SmartDoctor

28. Launch Catalyst Control Center

You should now have a default GPU clock of 810 MHz and a default Memory clock of 1250 MHz. Your OverDrive limits should now be 1620 for the GPU and 2500 for the Memory. Your GPU voltage will now be 1.175V, the memory should stay at the HD 6950 factory voltage/timing defaults. You don't need any software other than Catalyst Control Center to overclock now.

I like to set my OverDrive to 880 GPU, 1250 Memory, and 12% Power Control.

[Neova]

I have my settings at 920/1450 and 20% game / benchmark stable on stock coolers with only a flash upgrade using the TPU package. Max voltage is 1.175 also.

I wonder if just installing / uninstalling Asus Smartdoctor would unlock CCC limits but we really need at least a little more voltage control to push the cards more.

[japamd]

This

21. Open the "C:\hd6950flash\SmartDoc674" folder

22. Launch the "setup" application to install Asus SmartDoctor, follow the on screen instructions

23. After the computer reboots, launch Asus SmartDoctor

24. Under Asus SmartDoctor's settings, check the "Overclocking range enhancement" option

Do you need to install Asus video card driver to use SmartDoctor? I tried many times but it refuses to launch complaining about "No video card found" or something like that.

[Neova]

You need the Asus Bios to use the smartdoctor software since it is looking for some kind of hook or api in the bios.

[japamd]

You need the Asus Bios to use the smartdoctor software since it is looking for some kind of hook or api in the bios.

Sure thing, both cards have the Asus HD 6970 bios (890/1375), but SmartDoc doesn't recognize the cards and quit at startup.

[papatsonis]

r u using 6950, or 6970 cards? if 6950, use this bios(6950 unlocked only, with 1.1volt gpu etc..), had gotten from tpu i think, which works with 6.74 smart doctor (eventhough i dont see a need for smart doctor when can feed 1.3v through AB)

[japamd]

r u using 6950, or 6970 cards? if 6950, use this bios(6950 unlocked only, with 1.1volt gpu etc..), had gotten from tpu i think, which works with 6.74 smart doctor (eventhough i dont see a need for smart doctor when can feed 1.3v through AB)

I'm using 6950 with 6970 bios. I tried MSI AB and added the line below in config file (and disabled ULPS in registry)

[Settings]
VDDC_VT1556_Defaults = 9A 5C 9B 80

MSI AB shows the correct voltage (1.175v) after editing the line above, I can apply up to 1.30v, but any voltage doesn't make any difference (besides the fact it appears to be applied correctly by AB)

I tried RBE to up voltages and flashed the bios again, now it's working with 1.275v, it can do 950 (CCC max) without freezes/crashes (previously with 1.275v set by MSI AB the system always crashed a few seconds after starting unigine heaven benchmark). Go figure

[kuroikenshi]

I don't think I did anywhere near as much to get my 6950's to run on CFX @ 930 core 1375mem

[Oztopher]

I'd recommend using just a shader unlocked 6950 bios, no pre edited RBE bios either.

I didn't have to edit any cfg to use afterburner voltage control. I simply installed, turned on voltage control in the options, restart app, and it worked first time.

Although, from quick tests i didn't get as good gpu score when using AB to increase clocks. But if i increased voltage in AB, then quit, and then used trixx to increase clocks, benchmark scores were back to normal

I didn't have to disable overdrive either, i just made sure power was set to +20% and then tweaked away. If u happen to find after running a bench, the power drops back to 0%, close all OC programs (AB, trixx etc) and set slider back to 20%, it should stick then

Can't say this works for crossfire though.

[Elfear]

I'd recommend using just a shader unlocked 6950 bios, no pre edited RBE bios either.

I didn't have to edit any cfg to use afterburner voltage control. I simply installed, turned on voltage control in the options, restart app, and it worked first time.

Although, from quick tests i didn't get as good gpu score when using AB to increase clocks. But if i increased voltage in AB, then quit, and then used trixx to increase clocks, benchmark scores were back to normal

I didn't have to disable overdrive either, i just made sure power was set to +20% and then tweaked away. If u happen to find after running a bench, the power drops back to 0%, close all OC programs (AB, trixx etc) and set slider back to 20%, it should stick then

Can't say this works for crossfire though.

Doesn't work very well with Crossfire. If clocks are changed in AB, you get a BSOD. If you disable ULPS to fix the BSODs, the cards don't downclock and run at a constant voltage. Really annoying when you just want to surf.
There is a feature in AB called "Force Constant Voltage" which only works about half the time.

OP - What bios is included in your package? Modded 6950 or 6970 bios? Reason I ask is that I used a stock 6950 Asus bios, unlocked extra shaders via TPU script, and modded the unlocked bios for extra voltage in RBE. The problem is that SmartDoctor doesn't recognize my cards and I'm wondering how you got around that.

[papatsonis]

i have disabled every EnableULPS = 1 entry in registry and i oc and overvolt via AB just fine both cards, without downclocking problems (was curious and just tested again) (6950 unlocked bios). Only minor problem i have, most times i change clocks and press apply on AB, the fan despite being on custom profile, reverts to default bios profile, not a hassle though as i just check again the "user define" and load the custom profile instantly

[VigVoodoo]

Doesn't work very well with Crossfire. If clocks are changed in AB, you get a BSOD. If you disable ULPS to fix the BSODs, the cards don't downclock and run at a constant voltage. Really annoying when you just want to surf.
There is a feature in AB called "Force Constant Voltage" which only works about half the time.

OP - What bios is included in your package? Modded 6950 or 6970 bios? Reason I ask is that I used a stock 6950 Asus bios, unlocked extra shaders via TPU script, and modded the unlocked bios for extra voltage in RBE. The problem is that SmartDoctor doesn't recognize my cards and I'm wondering how you got around that.

The bios is for an HD 6950. It has HD 6950 memory voltages, unlocked shaders, and 1.175 GPU voltage.

[Elfear]

The bios is for an HD 6950. It has HD 6950 memory voltages, unlocked shaders, and 1.175 GPU voltage.

I tried your fix out and it worked great for my cards. I just use CCC to set up a gaming preset and woila. Thanks for posting up the guide.

Does anyone else have trouble getting AB to monitor the 2nd GPU's voltage? The option doesn't even appear for me to check under the monitoring tab.

[EzyRyder]

That is a great solution - thanks!

To be honest since yesterday you don't need to go the whole hog as Afterburner Beta 7 means you can have CCC and Unofficial overclocking on without affecting powertune and powerplay. Happy days!

[Neova]

Can you mirror the bios files to mediashare? MU is blocked in my country. Thanks

[deanob]

Will this work on a single 6950? I don't have two to crossfire.
Should I have the latest AMD drivers installed before starting?
And after I flash do I just use CCC to o/c up to 6970 settings or can I use TriXX to do it too?

Just purchased a sapphire 6950 2GB ...

Thanks

[mhorgel]

Having a problem...

When I get to step 8, I get a message saying I need to run atiflash as an administrator, but I have no idea how to do this in the DOS window.

Can anyone advise?

[needforspeed]

Go to control panel and user accounts, where it says make changes to user account, pick change your account type. and if not administrator, you can change..

[mhorgel]

I already am administrator.

[Gilgamesh]

Having a problem...

When I get to step 8, I get a message saying I need to run atiflash as an administrator, but I have no idea how to do this in the DOS window.

Can anyone advise?

start -> in search program files type "CMD" - > right click -> run as Administrator

[mhorgel]

TYVM...I will try this ASAP. Right now I'm setting up a media server with a 4TB Raid 1.

[Baenwort]

This worked on my HIS 6950. I won't know till next week how far it can go as I won't have my waterblock till then. What are the recommended OC checking programs for GPUs now a days? Last time I did this it was OCCTPT.

[JoeBar]

Try Furmark 1.8.2

[Baenwort]

Was looking around in GPU-Z 0.5.1 and it seems my VDDC(GPU voltage) is still 1.10V under load after flashing this bios. I thought it was supposed to be 1.175? Could the smartdoctor have lowered it when I used it to unlock the CCC?

I am running at +20% powercontrol settings.

[WildstarOCT]

Was looking around in GPU-Z 0.5.1 and it seems my VDDC(GPU voltage) is still 1.10V under load after flashing this bios. I thought it was supposed to be 1.175? Could the smartdoctor have lowered it when I used it to unlock the CCC?

I am running at +20% powercontrol settings.

Ditto, everything else as advertised but 3d voltage is 1.1v.