Thursday, February 9th 2017

No Windows 7 Drivers for AMD Ryzen
AMD confirmed that it will not release Windows 7 drivers for its upcoming Ryzen series processors. It was earlier reported that the company is working on these drivers. The company, however, did state that it tested and validated Ryzen processors on a variety of operating systems, including Windows 7. "To achieve the highest confidence in the performance of our AMD Ryzen desktop processors (formerly code-named "Summit Ridge"), AMD validated them across two different OS generations, Windows 7 and 10," AMD said in a statement. "However, only support and drivers for Windows 10 will be provided in AMD Ryzen desktop processor production parts," the company added.
This doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be Windows 7 drivers for other socket AM4 chips, such as the 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs. AMD-supplied drivers are essential for these chips, as they drive the AMD Radeon integrated graphics, and Windows 7 continues to be a gaming platform. What happens now? Well, you can run Windows 7 on AMD Ryzen-powered desktops just fine, it's just that the OS won't support all of the processor's capabilities, such as some of the newer instruction sets it comes with.
Source:
DigiWorthy
This doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be Windows 7 drivers for other socket AM4 chips, such as the 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs. AMD-supplied drivers are essential for these chips, as they drive the AMD Radeon integrated graphics, and Windows 7 continues to be a gaming platform. What happens now? Well, you can run Windows 7 on AMD Ryzen-powered desktops just fine, it's just that the OS won't support all of the processor's capabilities, such as some of the newer instruction sets it comes with.
91 Comments on No Windows 7 Drivers for AMD Ryzen
Tried it for 3 weeks & I don't like it at all even removing a few things like cortana & some apps , etc... still looks Fugly as hell
I much prefer Win7 but I hardly use it anymore (Dual boot) I'm meanly using Linux Mint 98% of the time even with games (although I don't play much games anymore it still play fine under Linux)
Linux as come a long way for the past few years & Wine is much better too & not to forget about Vulkan...
So I don't care much about no drivers for Win7 as long as it will function in Linux I'll be just fine
That's just my opinion...
You ignore the fact that alot of people lost their data due to the (forced, unwillingly, however you want call it) update from 7 / 8 to Windows 10. Nobody is going to read a 50 page TOS and simply hit Update because they dont know what that update is actually doing. MS settled for over $10.000 with one female in particular where her system basicly got destroyed after an update. THAT is what bothers me. There are numerous occasions as well where an update of Windows 10 crashed alot of people's their computer. Turning off updates is'nt the sollution. MS is not roughly testing out combinations of their updates that they are pushing through.
You may say Windows 7 is not being sold to computers, but the majority who buys computers that are already assembled with some HP / Asus or any other brand proberly does not even know that you CAN revert back to 7 or 8. I always build my own computers and select the OS that is required for it's purpose. Hell i cant even get used to the new W10 start-menu and the way things are unorganised.
Being used to things is'nt bad. Forcing a complete new GUI is a different league. That new GUI is coming with the new W10 update very soon.
Sorry, W7 X64 is being supported up to 2020 which is 3.5 years from now on, and by this very day it's still a suitable os for me. The only advantage (DX12) is not great enough to make the switch yet. My RX480 performs perfectly fine on Windows 7.
And tell me, do we really need to have new features (CPU registers) that come with the new Ryzen CPU? I'm pretty sure that we wont note the performance impact on SPECIFIC applications who make use of those 'new' registers. I bet you that the AM4 / Ryzen platform will work on Windows 7 X64. :)
Personally such choices and the way some OS'es are not being supported is to push the masses towards W10. I dont like that strategy from a huge co-operate who is deciding for you and me the choices you make on your computer daily, and change that if they want to.
And people who build their own computers are enthusiasts, and we all know the enthusiast market doesn't even show up on the radar of these companies because it is so small.
If you don't like the start menu, replace it. It really isn't that big of a deal. For someone that says they don't use it, you sure do seem to think you know a lot about it. There have been several GUI tweaks as Windows 10 has been updated, but there is no plans for any major GUI update. Like I said, then keep using it. But if you insist on using outdated software, expect to be forced to use outdated hardware. Don't get pissed when the hardware manufacturers refused to support it anymore. It doesn't make financial sense to keep developing drivers for Windows 7 anymore. Intel and AMD have both come to that conclusion. It isn't just registers. They've been touting the new security features of Ryzen, and Intel has been doing the same with Kaby Lake. There is a lot built into a CPU now, and if the OS doesn't know how to communicate with all the parts of a CPU, bad things happen. Hell, I remember when the NX bit was introduced. When it came over to the desktop processors in the Pentium 4/Athlon 64 era, it caused all kinds of havoc. Anyone running anything older than XP SP2(when NX Bit support was added to Windows) experienced all sorts of problems from software crashing, to software not even launching, to hard locks of the computer. Trying to get older OSes running stable on these processor was pretty much impossible.
Do we need these features? In todays world, I'd say yes. Security features are necessary. You can believe it is a big conspiracy if you want. But me, no, I believe the far more logical idea that Intel and AMD simply don't want to spend the money supporting OSes that aren't likely to be used with their new products anyway.
Planned obsolescence. At least they put it on a web page so you can see when your new
carcomputer willdienot make them money any longer. Windows 7 would still work fine, if they wanted to keep supporting it, but then their ability to make money would be cramped. haaaaaa-hahahahahahahLet me quote the write-up here (bold emphasis mine).
"According to AMD's Memory Encryption Whitepaper, SME works by leveraging the Secure Processor in encrypting data (using a 128-bit AES encryption key) when it is written to DRAM, effectively putting an end to the last redoubt of Cleartext-stored data. This becomes increasingly important when one considers the advent of NVDIMM (non volatile memory), which if left unencrypted, would be much more vulnerable to physical removal and subsequent cloning of its contents than currently employed solutions. This encryption key is randomly generated by the Secure Processor on each system reset, and is never accessible by any software running on the CPU cores."
So, this process can't be written without having a back door into it, or else the government would never install them in their equipment. Any door can be opened by someone other than the intended user. Therefore, the only improvement here, is that it will take foreign powers some extended time to find the door. And then we're back where we started.
Per Symantec, "In 2015, the number of zero-day vulnerabilities discovered more than doubled to 54, a 125 percent increase from the year before. Or put another way, a new zero-day vulnerability was found every week (on average) in 2015. "
The "improvements" in hardware and software security only mean that it's another bullet point on the Powerpoint of "Why you need the Next Best Thing!". It appears to have little to no effect on the amount of security incursions on every days users.
Percent of all US households that have been affected by viruses: 40 %
Maybe this just means we're losing the battle, and it certainly doesn't mean "Stop developing, because 'Viruses!!' " However, I have about a 5% confidence that the new functionalities built into the new processors couldn't be supported on Windows 7. They're not supported because AMD and Intel choose not to. Which again, brings us back to "money". I can't argue with this in the least. If M$ tells companies, "We're moving to a new OS, and aren't going to support the older OSes", then neither AMD nor Intel will want to design their products to support the older OSes. If the company that makes the majority share of end-user software tells you they're not going to support old software, you either accept that and move with them, or you die as a company. It's simple. It's the American Way. It's business. It's the same way manufacturing commerce has worked for decades here, and I assume centuries in the world. If I, as a business, want to keep you coming back as a customer, I have to find that sweet spot between "blatant planned obsolescence", and "reliable product". I need to make you believe that my product is going to last you a "Long Time", and then figure out what period of time you will accept as "Long Enough", and hit that number. Otherwise, I'm a one-shot sale, and I go out of business.
That doesn't mean that I, the consumer, appreciates blatant planned obsolescence. That is exactly what this is.
I have no doubt that these security features could be supported by Windows 7. I also have completely confidence that Intel and AMD would never see a positive return on the investment they would have to put forth to get them working and keeping them working. And you are right, the money is the point. Intel and AMD have decided supporting Windows 7 isn't worth the cost, they obviously have crunched the numbers and figured out they aren't making money supporting Windows 7, they are losing money, so they have both decided to stop doing it. That is how businesses stay in business. If something isn't making you money, you stop doing it. Except Microsoft hasn't done that. They are still supporting Windows 7 and 8.1 for years to come. The issue comes down to the fact that almost no one is using older OSes on new systems.
For point B, all I can point to is "Planned Obsolescence". M$ doesn't want people to stay on an older platform, since that doesn't make them enough money. Like I said, I understand a business needs to make money. I just don't like Blatant planned obsolescence.