GTX 460 768Mb to HD6950 with (6970 Bios hack)

[Nevakonaza]

So as the title states,Im considering selling my GTX 460 768Mb and getting a HD6950 2GB and flashing it with the 6970 bios which has been proven by many to be very succesfull.

The reason i was thinking of selling,The 768mb of ram on the 460 i think seems to hold the card back alot.

My questions are,

1)Is there a big performance diffrence between the GTX 460 768Mb & the HD6950?

2)Will my PSU handle it? (OCZ ModXStream pro 600W Modular)

3)Is it (In your opinion) worth the upgrade?

Thanks

 

[tinytomlogan]

Have to be very carefull with bios hacks as it IS killing cards and you will have no waranty once it is done aswell.

 

[JezEngland]

if you wana be an angel don't play the gamble

 

[Stryker64]

Mate the 460 768mb is on par with the 6850. You are comparing a Toyota to a BMW right now. So you'll get a fairly large improvement with upgrade, your PSU will handle it, but you are having a gamble with the unlock.

 

[AMDFTW]

get the 1gb 460 the 768mb version loses out to almost 10fps in some games

 

[oneseraph]

The Radeon 6950 reference cards are equipped with dual bios. There is a switch on the side of the cards for selecting the factory bios or an enthusiast bios. Bottom line is there is very little risk in flashing reference 6950 to 6970. You should an improvement in most games.

Hope this helps, OneSeraph

 

[INMATE183]

The Gigabyte 'Super OverClock' 460 is out and cheap £158 with free delivery i found it for, many sites have it on offer. The fastest 460 out of the box I believe? Also suposidly SILENT!

 

[murphy7801]

Splash a bit more cash and get a lovely gtx 570

 

[INMATE183]

Splash a bit more cash and get a lovely gtx 570

think that alil bit over budget

but they are reasonable!

 

[murphy7801]

think that alil bit over budget

but they are reasonable!

Go for it I got mine today fun fun fun

 

[INMATE183]

My GB 460 SOC is arriving 2moro ill be happy with that

ill post some form of review maybe?

 

[CRAZYCAP]

+1 to the GTX 570 idea.

 

[bertdasquirt]

+9.9X10 to power of 12 to the repeat of the words GTX 570!

 

[jaw2floor]

The success rate of BIOS flashing on the HD6950 is very high; there hasn't been any failures. Slap me if I'm wrong, this is coming from OCuK.

 

[JezEngland]

Have to be very carefull with bios hacks as it IS killing cards and you will have no waranty once it is done aswell.

Tom has a neck in the Graphics card world.

maby OCUK has a neck in the fraud world. Ebuyer sold me a POV 480 with a description of 3 years warranty. Recently I learnt from POV it has only 1 year

cheatin *********

The card is sold-out and the description has gone. Print Screen+Save the retailers description. I want to. Scan did an error for an EVGA card description, sent me the wrong card, I told EVGA and they got SCAN to sort the real deal because SCAN didn't want to. I will email POV about Ebuyer's description soon

Do you know what throwing a GPU in the bin is like, cause I think you should avoid it

 

[Runebeard]

I've said it a few times in other threads already.

If you're looking at the ~£200 range I'd wait a bit for the new GTX560 to come out before making a final decision on anything.

It's only a few more days until it's released and then the reviews will flood in, telling whether it's the bargain the GTX460 was of the last generation.

If it improves like the rest of the 500-series has no doubt it'll be a strong contender for the AMD 6950 at competitive price.

Sure unlocking the 6950 might seem cool, but as Tom says it'll void your warranty, and it was probably locked because it wasn't such a well performing chip in the 1st place. I wouldn't risk it personally.

 

[tiagojcp]

The Radeon 6950 reference cards are equipped with dual bios. There is a switch on the side of the cards for selecting the factory bios or an enthusiast bios. Bottom line is there is very little risk in flashing reference 6950 to 6970. You should an improvement in most games.

Hope this helps, OneSeraph

I agree, and by saving the original bios you are insured.

One question: After flashing the bios, is it ok to overclock the card? Or because you don't have the 8-pin connector like the 6970, that's just pushing it to hard?

OFF TOPIC - Realy nice oc3d avatar, great job!

 

[JezEngland]

I don't think so. You ask for proof from the manufacturers about that. Giving a dead card with altered BIOS's isn't gona please them and your funds.

AMD aren't clever and stupid here. They know, always have, that the default BIOS will be changed to unlock the chip, They knew it isn't safe, they knew un-aware people will buy the 6850 to do that. Stupidity for money, nuf or too much eh? too much for an innocent. Play safe

560+ ftw

Its a shame to the dedicated AMD engineers, their marketing staff etc are infected with ignorant decisions for the 6950. "Splash the doe and make it proper"

Does th 6950 have the same components as the 6970?

 

[DrBoomstick]

That bios hack really isnt worth it in my opinion, it could kill your card, and a 6970 run with more power connectors so you wont even how the right power going to your card, I would stay away if I were you.

 

[Johnny Rook]

I just don't quite get why you are moving to a card that's "only" a bit more powerful as the one you have already...

I don't think the flashed BIOS kills the card but, I think the HD6950 will never be as good as the HD6970, no matter what you do to it -- and yes, if you push it to much you'll damage it. For some reason the GPU was labeled as 6950 and not as 6970 at factory: is not that "perfect" to perform at same voltages and core frequencies, that's why.

JRook