Optimizing ATI performance, 6950 in particular

[jkminkov]

probably wrong, I used RBE to unlock shaders by hand on http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3693#ov , just checked 6950->6970 on last page, saved BIOS and ... I can't flash another BIOS anymore ... but it's unlocked gui-miner-01-05-2011 with -f 15 -w 128 -v shows 386Mhash/s @ 900 core /775 memory, CCC power tune +20

What do you mean by saying "I can't flash another BIOS anymore"? So, you can't go back to stock?

well I tried flashing the original saved BIOS and I can't ... Winflash gives an error, gigabyte vga tool says - same BIOS version

[Gameover]

374 Mh/s
Core 950 MHz
Memory 1250 MHz
Temp 77C stable, ambient 77F
Voltage 1.2V
No shaders unlocked

[ramdmc]

355 Mh/s
Core 840 MHz
Memory 1250 MHz
Fan 57%
Temp 69C
Voltage 1.1V
Shaders Unlocked, stock 6950 BIOS and 11.3 Catalyst Drivers/CCC
-v -w128

[polishwarrior]

417 Mh/s
Core @ 975MHz, 1.150v
Mem @ 1250MHz
Temp @ 63C, fan @ 77%
Shaders unlocked
-v -w128

[fasti]

342Mh/s
880 core
760 mem
23c room
75c gpu 32%fan
1.1v
-v -w 64

Latest drivers. 11.5

[Dusty]

417 Mh/s

That's very impressive: may I know the details of your setup?
Which system, linux or windows?
What program to overclock the card?
What software used to mine?

TIA!

[hiVe]

417 Mh/s
Core @ 975MHz, 1.150v
Mem @ 1250MHz
Temp @ 63C, fan @ 77%
Shaders unlocked
-v -w128

Unlikely, and with vectorization used, impossible...

[Xer]

417 Mh/s
Core @ 975MHz, 1.150v
Mem @ 1250MHz
Temp @ 63C, fan @ 77%
Shaders unlocked
-v -w128

Unlikely, and with vectorization used, impossible...

Err not at all?
that looks normal for a unlocked 6950.

im doing 430 Mhash with mine

1.200 volt
unlocked shaders
1000 core
900 mem
Watercooled
~53c

[PGPpfKkx]

hi,

i have a 6950 which cannot be unlocked. i messed with msi afterburner and @ 900/760 runs ok.

when i try to volt up so to go to 950mhz , i actually get less mhashes. how is this possible? i tried 1133v and 950 the system didnt hang but i was mining less. does this make sense?

[tunatime]

hi,

i have a 6950 which cannot be unlocked. i messed with msi afterburner and @ 900/760 runs ok.

when i try to volt up so to go to 950mhz , i actually get less mhashes. how is this possible? i tried 1133v and 950 the system didnt hang but i was mining less. does this make sense?

your going need more v for 950 try 1.75 the stock 6970vcore) and put power tune at+20% form inside your ccc and btw what are you temps in they are high the card will cut back

[PGPpfKkx]

im afraid of giving 1.75volts are you sure about this???
i haven't flashed the bios to 6970 and i dont have unlocked shaders (not possible)

[bolo]

I have 4 6950's and unable to get above 362mhash/s. I'm running unlocked shaders with 11.5 drivers and have tried all different clock/mem/volt/miner settings and unable to go any higher. I would like to get 400 per card. Am I missing something?

[xjosx]

im afraid of giving 1.75volts are you sure about this???
i haven't flashed the bios to 6970 and i dont have unlocked shaders (not possible)

I believe he means 1.175... Gosh people should be more careful when typing.
That's what I've set mine to, and I get around 415 Mhash/s

[PGPpfKkx]

I believe he means 1.175... Gosh people should be more careful when typing.
That's what I've set mine to, and I get around 415 Mhash/s

you have unlocked card? tell me your setup with 1.175 ... it just works less when i change the volts from msi.

if i give it more volts, it drops the mhashrate this is trange.

[H8ff0000]

I have 4 6950's and unable to get above 362mhash/s. I'm running unlocked shaders with 11.5 drivers and have tried all different clock/mem/volt/miner settings and unable to go any higher. I would like to get 400 per card. Am I missing something?

I have 6950 unlocked shaders, getting 408Mhash/s easily.
What I use:
MSI Afterburner - 1175v / 950 core / 450 mem / 60 fan (YMMV)
You might need to edit the config of Afterburner. Also you will have to lower the mem as low as possible, then close the app, then reopen. This will allow you to hit 450 mem. This was stable for me. 425 gave me artifacts. YMMV
guiminer flags -v -r5 -f1 -w128

Sorry if its sloppy I've been up for... 36hrs or something.

[ataranlen]

If only this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102921

Supported shaders unlock... I tried, can't get it to work.

[mattpker]

I can't get above 900Mhz and 1.100 volts on my 6950's (unlocked shaders) at 380 Mhash/s. I guess I did not get these good cards like you guys got that can be overclocked a lot.

[itsagas]

Does anyone have experience OC'ing Powercolor 6950's 1GB cards with the BIOS switch? 

I can get them to run 360 Mhash or so with one card but with four am only getting about 300 each (they are well spaced with risers and not running too hot). 

Specifically, looking to see if I can do all the OC'ing and settings in the windows tools and then bring the cards back over to linux boxes.  Will this work?

[bolo]

I have 6950 unlocked shaders, getting 408Mhash/s easily.
What I use:
MSI Afterburner - 1175v / 950 core / 450 mem / 60 fan (YMMV)
You might need to edit the config of Afterburner. Also you will have to lower the mem as low as possible, then close the app, then reopen. This will allow you to hit 450 mem. This was stable for me. 425 gave me artifacts. YMMV
guiminer flags -v -r5 -f1 -w128

Sorry if its sloppy I've been up for... 36hrs or something.

Thanks. I've tried this and I'm getting 332Mhash/s when running these. It's stable just isn't fast.

I'm using these cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127555&cm_re=6950-_-14-127-555-_-Product

I unlocked using OPs instructions, GPU-Z is showing shaders at 1536 unified. 

Any other ideas on this?

[padrino]

It may be worth noting some 6950s cannot be unlocked because the flash is hardware locked so although one can easily make a proper rom one cannot flash it, for example XFX 6950s hardware revision A.3 (current Newegg offering) cannot be flashed. With that said techpowerup is one of the best sites to go for information and I have a thread going over there on a physical hardware hack, not sure if it will work yet but I'm playing with it.