MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Unlockability

[Rarazuh]

I'm building a new rig really soon and I'm planning on going with some variation of the 6950. Right now I'm looking at the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III but I'm concerned if I will be able to unlock the shaders and OC it. I've read a lot of conflicting posts on this and from what I can see is that you can unlock the shaders as long as the gpu is laser cut and it's up to chance. Is this still worth going for or would it be a better idea to just go for a reference 6950?

Please comment!

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

my guess is you will be able too IF it is reference design. I am unaware of unlocking working on non reference cards. And even if it is reference i would ask around to make sure AMD has not fixed this problem.

 

[Icekube]

With the 6950 having the Twin Frozr III heatsink on it, it will not be a ref' pcb, as with the 580 version it'll be extended and crammed with extra oc'ing features. I'd suggest doing a bit of digging around on msi forums to see if anyone has any info on flashing the card to a 6970 before buying though.

 

[SieB]

I found this review and it says it can be flashed LINK

 

[FTLN]

Just got one and it doesnt unlock,,, different batch of dies probably...

 

[TheOneHalf]

Depends, some can some can't I was lucky and had 2 which were unlockable. other people were not so lucky. it depends if it is laser cut or not. If you want absolute certainty then get it second hand or get a reference design. If it does not matter that much then get it new