Thursday, October 25th 2018

AMD Confirms Drop of 32-bit Executable Driver Support

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (44 Comments)
AMD, via a statement provided to the 4Gamer publication, has confirmed they're dropping support for 32-bit executables in their driver releases. This move from AMD comes after mainstream adoption of 64-bit Operating Systems, which has rendered the market for 32-bit executables as apparently not worth the additional coding and certification effort.

For users till on a 32-bit operating system that have modern graphics hardware that's still being supported via AMD's drivers, though, this means that the last 32-bit version of an AMD driver will likely be the 18.9.3 version, which was re-released as WHQL on October 9th. As it stands, AMD won't be distributing new driver releases on the 32-bit format, so support for Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Forza Horizon 4 better be all you care about. The Vega page listing for driver releases already only lists the 64-bit version of the executables as is. Strangely, AMD has also pulled 32-bit driver references and links from its Vega 64 driver page - we'd expect some links to be up for legacy support, at least.
Sources: 4Gamer, via Videocardz

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44 Comments on AMD Confirms Drop of 32-bit Executable Driver Support

#1
TheinsanegamerN
It's about time. 32 bit hasnt been relevant since at the latest vista.
Strangely, AMD has also pulled 32-bit driver references and links from its Vega 64 driver page - we'd expect some links to be up for legacy support, at least.
This is par for the course for AMD. This is the same company that pulled the plug on the 5000 and 6000 series (late 2015) several years before their competitor nvidia did with the fermi GPUs (april 2018). The same AMD that broke AGP drivers on XP and left them broken for over half a decade. The same company that broke 16 bit graphical support with catalyst 13.7 and to this day hasnt fully fixed it. The same AMD that dropped support for the 9000 series while there was a system breaking black screen bug in the drivers for windows 2000.

AMD's legacy support has always been abysmal. Why would you expect their vega driver support to be any different?
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#2
kastriot
No worries you will have alterante links always.
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#3
bonehead123
32bit.....Whahzdat ???? :)

J/k.... 'bout friggin time...hopefully this trend will continue and accellerate....
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#4
DeathtoGnomes
if this means better drivers in the long run, great.
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#5
droopyRO
Wished they made a final 32 bit driver for Windows 10 and the RX 5xx series. I still use 32 bit OS on a secondary PC due to compatibility issues of a program with 64 bit OS. I have a RX560 sitting doing nothing since AMD did not bother to make a x86 driver for it, one lousy driver :mad:
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#6
hat
Enthusiast
And nothing of value was lost.
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#7
PrEzi
droopyROWished they made a final 32 bit driver for Windows 10 and the RX 5xx series. I still use 32 bit OS on a secondary PC due to compatibility issues of a program with 64 bit OS. I have a RX560 sitting doing nothing since AMD did not bother to make a x86 driver for it, one lousy driver :mad:
Are you kidding me?
They released like tons of drivers for the RX560, the last one was 18.9.3.

Here you have the 18.9.3 from end of September
www.techspot.com/drivers/downloadnow/17832/?evp=1442951cf35848972768a80fbc413e47&file=2
www.guru3d.com/files-details/amd-radeon-adrenalin-edition-18-9-3-driver-download.html

And btw - 32bit is bad for any kind of newer games anyway since the memory it can address is limited to 3.5GB. And for old stuff you don't need any new drivers lol.
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#8
windwhirl
I was wondering when they would finally drop 32-bit support...
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#9
lexluthermiester
As unpopular a perspective as this is likely to be, there are a few downsides to dropping 32bit support, namely modern GPU support for legacy systems. However, that is a very minimal audience, just a bit sad though.
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#10
ghazi
Who uses a 32-bit OS in 2018? Even Windows 7 32-bit was generally pointless. Don't understand why anyone would complain about this. The resources freed up by this can make the 64-bit drivers better.
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#11
DR4G00N
ghaziWho uses a 32-bit OS in 2018?
I use Win XP 32-bit almost every day. :D
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#12
lexluthermiester
ghaziWho uses a 32-bit OS in 2018? Even Windows 7 32-bit was generally pointless. Don't understand why anyone would complain about this.
Compatibility. There are programs that are still useful and relevant to some users which will not run stable or at all on 64bit. Thus the continued need for them to use 32bit. However as was said above, that is a very small group of users.
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#13
hat
Enthusiast
But who needs 32 bit AND the latest driver for their RX580? The card alone has more memory than the 32 bit address space can handle...
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#14
Prima.Vera
People keep asking why there is still a need for x32 drivers are naive or just ignorant.
There a millions of PC out there still on legacy x32 OSes. Hell, most of the companies are still on Windows 7x32 with low specs PCs due to the fact they only need to run office applications and Outlook.
Heck, even my PC it's a Win 7 x32 machine with 4GB of RAM and crappy AMD card, used only to display 3 monitors at once. And works quite well for what is required.
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#15
hat
Enthusiast
My point is, that these machines that are still running 32 bit are not the same machines that need constant driver updates. You're likely using old hardware anyway and a driver update from AMD won't make or break you.
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#16
GoldenX
You don't use a Vega 64 on a PC that needs 32-bit support, you use a GT520 there.
Having 32-bit support for IGPs would be nice anyway.
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#17
lexluthermiester
hatMy point is, that these machines that are still running 32 bit are not the same machines that need constant driver updates. You're likely using old hardware anyway and a driver update from AMD won't make or break you.
That's a fair point.
GoldenXYou don't use a Vega 64 on a PC that needs 32-bit support, you use a GT520 there.
That decision is up to the the users who own the PC. People have the right to use the software/hardware they need to do the tasks they need to do. It is their choice. And if someone wants to run an older game/program that only runs on 32bit as fast as possible, they should have that option. But AMD is doing their thing, and will force people who need 32bit to NVidia's camp.
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#18
Xzibit
lexluthermiesterThat's a fair point.

That decision is up to the the users who own the PC. People have the right to use the software/hardware they need to do the tasks they need to do. It is their choice. And if someone wants to run an older game/program that only runs on 32bit as fast as possible, they should have that option. But AMD is doing their thing, and will force people who need 32bit to NVidia's camp.
Nvidia already killed 32bit support back in April. Only providing security patches for 32bit until Jan 2019
Posted on Reply
#19
DeathtoGnomes
XzibitNvidia already killed 32bit support back in April. Only providing security patches for 32bit until Jan 2019
in the lastest nvidia 415 driver release notes:
Discontinued Support

32-bit Operating Systems
Beginning with Release 396, NVIDIA is no
longer releasing Ga
me Ready drivers for
32-bit operating systems
for any GPU architecture.

NVIDIA Fermi GPUs
Beginning with Release 396, the NVIDIA
Game Ready driver no longer supports
NVIDIA GPUs based on the Fermi architecture.
Posted on Reply
#21
lexluthermiester
Oh, right. Forgot all about that. My bad, sorry. Oh well, that's that then isn't it..
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#22
GoldenX
lexluthermiesterOh, right. Forgot all about that. My bad, sorry. Oh well, that's that then isn't it..
You can also use an HD5450, there are many options with 32 bit support, also, the standard is 40 years old, I'm pretty sure that whatever it's needed to run in 32-bits, it can run in a virtual machine.
Posted on Reply
#23
hat
Enthusiast
lexluthermiesterThat decision is up to the the users who own the PC. People have the right to use the software/hardware they need to do the tasks they need to do. It is their choice. And if someone wants to run an older game/program that only runs on 32bit as fast as possible, they should have that option. But AMD is doing their thing, and will force people who need 32bit to NVidia's camp.
He's right, though. AMD (and nVidia as well, for that matter) have supported 32 bit for long enough. Nobody in their right mind is using a modern high end graphics card on a 32 bit system. 32 bit systems may still have their place, along with those systems that still have to run Windows XP or something because of some necessary application that's not compatible with a newer version of Windows. Nobody should be putting an RX580 in such a system... just like I shouldn't be using drilled/slotted rotors on my car, because I use it for regular driving (and I try to drive easy), not a race track. Sure, I have the option to do that, but should I? It sure wouldn't make much sense, and would in fact be less than ideal, given their increased cost and heavier wear on brake pads for no reason.
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#24
GoldenX
hatHe's right, though. AMD (and nVidia as well, for that matter) have supported 32 bit for long enough. Nobody in their right mind is using a modern high end graphics card on a 32 bit system. 32 bit systems may still have their place, along with those systems that still have to run Windows XP or something because of some necessary application that's not compatible with a newer version of Windows. Nobody should be putting an RX580 in such a system... just like I shouldn't be using drilled/slotted rotors on my car, because I use it for regular driving (and I try to drive easy), not a race track. Sure, I have the option to do that, but should I? It sure wouldn't make much sense, and would in fact be less than ideal, given their increased cost and heavier wear on brake pads for no reason.
Only good rotors are rotary engines :nutkick:.
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