I think that posting sytle looks nice, I'll copy.

2.5 (6870 on 11.11)
Average: 284Mhash/s

Average: 284Mhash/s

2.6 (6870 on 11.12, 50MHz slower on the GPU clock than the one on 2.5)
Average: 262Mhash/s

Average: 275Mhash/s

Average: 268Mhash/s

More testing!!!!!

2.5
DiakGCN VECTORS WORKSIZE=128: 247MHps
DiakGCN VECTORS2 WORKSIZE=128: 280-281MHps
DiakGCN VECTORS4 WORKSIZE=128: 284MHps....It looks like your old Phoenix kernal is finally beaten for me. Now just need to surpass my cgminer scores of 290MHps xD

CPU at 25-30% on my C2D.

Increases all across the board. Congratz!

What I was asking about the name earlier in the previous thread is why the naming of this version changed?

current: diaggcn
thread title/previous: diakgcn

Oh well, minor thing, just changed the name of my inputs into phoenix. Keep up the good work.

Since you had an update today, I guess I'll retest. (diaggcn?, spelling mistake?). Like before all test are short test at aggression 12, unless stated otherwise.

2.5
phatk_dia, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS: 282 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=64, VECTORS: 248 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=64, VECTORS2: 277 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=64, VECTORS4: 545 MHps  (Guess the vectors 4 bug has not been fixed? That probably means this is 272MHps)
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS: 248 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS2: 277 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS4: 551 MHps (Probably 276MHps)
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=256, VECTORS: 248 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=256, VECTORS2: 271 MHps
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=256, VECTORS4: 540 MHps (Probably 270MHps)
diaggcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS2, AGGRESSION=10: 276 MHps

might test my card on 2.6 later, but on 2.5, I am getting worse results than before, oh well.

I am only getting 280 with Diablo with the settings on the first post. Are there any better settings I should try? (When I did overclock test long time ago on phoenix 1.4, I easily passed 320 (maybe 330 but it has been a while), but the energy spike is not worth it imo)

Tried out diakgcn on my 6870. All tests at aggression 12 and done over very short time periods, unless said otherwise.

Results:

2.5:
phatk_dia, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS: 282 MHps (best one from previous test)
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS: 278 MHps
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS2: 279 MHps
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=64, VECTORS: 278 MHps
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=64, VECTORS2: 279 MHps
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS2, AGGRESSION=10: 278 MHps (spiked up to 282 at one point.....)
diakgcn, WORKSIZE=128, VECTORS2, AGGRESSION=5: 275 MHps

2.6: (Sorry, did poor documentation here. Only listed best results If asked for I will document this better later)
phatk_dia: 272 MHps
diakgcn: 260MHps

tl;dr: diakgcn is currently slower for 6870

CGMINER usually does need much setup. Just add -I 9 to the end of basic pool information, and that is usually enough to get the highest hashrate (assuming you already overclocked your card)

As for myself, my 6870 is at 290MH/s with only a slight factory overclock (bascially no overclocking at all) on CGMINER.

If you really think bitcoin will pay out for you, trying a 7950 or a 7970 might not be too bad (these cards just came out so they do charge a small premium....). Besides that, I will have to agree with the 5830 (or a 5850 /5870 if oyou can find one)

About companies, I heard horrifying things about XFX's AMD customer service, so I have been told to stay away from their ATI stuff, but I'll leave that decision up to you.

If you are talking about bitcoin/intial cost then I agree with you, but it is not necessarily true if you have to pay a fair bit for your electricity. Where I live, the net gain per day for FPGAs is significantly greater than the gain by graphics cards. I am pretty sure I can make up the difference between the graphics card and FPGA in 1-2 months. (Though I need my graphics card for gaming, so that is not going anywhere xD)

I am not using linux, but from what I can read, it sounds like you are either trying to start up the phoenix.exe without giving inputs (settings) or giving phoenix bad inputs.

If you post the settings you used, I can try to help you out better from there.

From what I found while googling, the old 6950 1gbs might be unlockable (luck is still a big factor in getting one that is unlockable, but it is possible).

Aside from that, reading the mining hardware comparison chart, it does not look like 2GB 6950s are any faster than the 1GB ones, so I'll also say just get the 1gb ones. (You could also search for some old 6950s and try unlocking them if you are feeling lucky)