A recent discovery has shown that AMD's cheaper 6900 series card can effectively match the performance of the current highest specification model.
If you're not familiar with either of AMD's latest cards, be sure to check out Vortez's comprehensive reviews for the HD 6950 and HD 6970.
W1zzard over at TechPowerUp has published and compiled a guide showing how this can be done and results of those who have performed the simple procedure so far.
The process involves flashing a new BIOS to the HD 6950 card, and then overclocking it to match the HD 6970 specs. The 1408 shaders of the HD 6950 are unlocked to 1536 (like the HD 6970) and the clocks can be upped to 880 MHz Core (from 800MHz) and 1375 MHz Memory (from 1250 MHz).
The upgraded card now matches the HD 6970 performance
As you can see, this has obvious benefits for any HD 6950 users, and it may disappoint some of those tech-savvy users who spent the average ~£60 more on the HD 6970 who would be happy to flash a better BIOS.
The process is also very safe. As we know, these cards come with a dual BIOS design, so if the flash does go bad, you can revert to the other BIOS. More detailed performance and power info can be found from the source below.
Why have AMD not locked this feature out, as they have with previous cards? As previously hinted, the apparent yields AMD have been getting for the production of these cards are very good, hence the rumour that more HD 6970 cards were being produced as more chips were easily capable of the higher clock speeds. What we're seeing here is that the majority of HD 6950 cards are capable of performing as the HD 6970, just as AMD have found.
This sort of added bonus adds to the value of the HD 6950, so perhaps expect them to sell very well in the coming weeks! AMD also are well known to have unlockable CPUs, and this kind of business practice has obviously carried over into their graphics cards too, much to the pleasure of many enthusiasts.
Do you have a HD 6950? Have you tried to unlock it? If so, or if you have any other comments, don't hesitate to share them with us in the forums!
Source: TechPowerUp
