» Tue May 17, 2011 12:07 pm You mean flashing it to a 6970? Would this lower the lifespan of the video card? Are there any disadvantages to this?
That's the other method. You can try that method if you wish, but there have been some users claiming that flashing to the 6970 BIOS have caused permanent damage to the onboard memory due to not being able to handle the 6970 memory timings. Plus, the rise in temperature at load is just too much for me to accept with this method that I didn't even bother trying it.
The method that I used is unlocking the shaders, then overclocking the card while retaining the 6950 BIOS:
http://www.overclock.net/ati/923129-hd-6950-810-1250-mhz-shader.html
I have a 2GB XFX 6950 and this method will flash an Asus 6950 BIOS onto the card. I followed the guide to the bone and it works like a charm. I find no disadvantages to this method and it's the safest one...you're merely unlocking shaders that are locked. You maintain a Radeon 6950 BIOS, so there shouldn't be a risk of overpowering the card's components. Of course, overclocking carries its normal precautions with maintaining adequate temperatures so to not deteriorate the card's lifespan. My card stays at about 76C at load from what I've seen so far.
New thread up:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1167952-the-community-tech-thread-no-97/
