AMD's HD 6950 is unlockable; 69XX series has dual bios -- good news for open source

[Sirius69]

So I'm planning on buying a 6950 for about 260 after tax and shipping from powercolor and unlock it to a 6970. Now, do all 6950s have the dual bios feature or only the PCS++ versions. Or it doesn't matter at all?

[BlueJayofEvil]

So I'm planning on buying a 6950 for about 260 after tax and shipping from powercolor and unlock it to a 6970. Now, do all 6950s have the dual bios feature or only the PCS++ versions. Or it doesn't matter at all?

My understanding is that the entire 69XX card line-up has the switch.
But be careful unlocking a 6950, it doesn't have the same power connectors the 6970 has (6950 has 1 8-pin + 1 6-pin; 6970 has 2 8-pins.)

[Sirius69]

(6950 has 1 8-pin + 1 6-pin; 6970 has 2 8-pins.)

I do understand that there are different pin configurations, but will the video card just draw more power or what? I'm just trying to figure out why you mentioned the pin configurations on both.

The original reason why I started asking about this is because powercolor decided to release PCS++ versions with dual bios but only they use that notation.

[BlueJayofEvil]

I do understand that there are different pin configurations, but will the video card just draw more power or what? I'm just trying to figure out why you mentioned the pin configurations on both.

I mentioned it in case you were considering overclocking. If you're going to use stock clocks then you should be completely fine.

The original reason why I started asking about this is because powercolor decided to release PCS++ versions with dual bios but only they use that notation.

I have a Sapphire 6970 and it has the dual-BIOS switch. From what I understand, all of the 69XX series do have that switch.

[Sirius69]

[QUOTE=BlueJayofEvil;181937]I mentioned it in case you were considering overclocking. If you're going to use stock clocks then you should be completely fine.

Well I was planning on overclocking +20% and I saw that there is an increase in wattage consumption from stock on TechPowerUp(http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159). Will my 650W PSU actually handle that this?