The 6950 cards have a backup BIOS on-board so if the flashing fails it is easy to recover back to stock. Virtually risk free...however, if you flash the 6950 to a 6970, then decide to ramp up the clocks yet again, you could kill the card, as would any over overclock. I think the Palit 6950's actually come with the 6970 BIOS already on the card, ready to switch it on?
I wasn't so worried about the flash going wrong (as from other people's experiences its pretty hard to screw up) but I'm pretty sure I have read that most manufactures stated that by flashing the bios you invalidate your warranty so if anything does go wrong at a later date, even if unrelated to the bios being switched, you have no chance of refund/replacement. I'm happy to be corrected, especially if as you say pallit are shipping with the 6970 bios already on the card. I'd still probably go 560 though - think i'm slowly becoming a Nvidia fan boy noooooooooo. My next card will be ATI honest.
It is this very dilemma that is causing me grief... Oh well, I haven't actually got the money yet anyway, I've got longer to procrastinate gather important research information supporting my informed decision.
I don't think the manufacture would be able to tell you have flashed the bios, if you flash it back before returning it if you had a problem
You all can see what I'm going through now!!!! You have a budget and you have a few choices. The question is which one to buy that will last you a while and won't get you to the point of regret after you buy it. What happened to the days that you had £190 to spend and your choice was which nVidia card to buy? Then it was you had £190 to spend and your choice was which ATI card to buy? Now it's................. well you know and that's why I've reached this stage. All your input is priceless and I thank you loads but I'm still undecided about who I give my hard earned cash to. So I guess we should continue
