[WTS] 2 x Reference 5850 - Won't Mine

[grndzero]

I have 2 x Reference HD 5850's that no longer mine. They do post and work in 2D mode but lock up when I start a miner with them, even at stock speeds. I'm not sure where they were each individually purchased, but were certainly bought used from eBay or locally. They have 5870 BIOS's on them so I could run them at 975/325. They were re-greased with Arctic Silver 5 as needed and kept as close to 70C as possible while mining. Their fans are in good condition.

I am hoping to get 15 btc/ea, but will take a reasonable offer considering the condition. Willing to ship anywhere buyer pays.

Edit: I have one reference from selling another dead card here
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=484.msg478103#msg478103

Edit: Per suggestion of a user PM I tested both cards 3D with fgl_glxgears and gltron and both cards tested smoothly for a few minutes each at stock speed.

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[ssateneth]

I wasn't aware you could flash a 5870 bios onto a 5850 without seriously damaging it. 

[grndzero]

I wasn't aware you could flash a 5870 bios onto a 5850 without seriously damaging it.

It took some experimentation with different bios from techpowerup but I did the same modification to 7 cards in the end. Reference cards are a lot more flexible in what you can do with them. Once I did it to the first 2 I only bought reference cards after that. It's also why I re-greased and cleaned them out regularly. There's a pretty good track record of postings about this in my history from mid April on last year.