AMD to Drop Support for Pre-HD 5000 GPUs with Catalyst 12.7

[Mussels]

I honestly didnt expect that for the 4000 series, which sucks.

I think cutting support for anything below 4000 is fine. But then again, there is a lot of people out there who will want to upgrade to Windows 8 and I know even the high-end 2000 series are capable of doing so (w/out DX10/11 obviously).

Oh well, kind of an aggressive move but let see what happens.

who said they wont work in win 8? they just arent getting monthly updates

 

[Dent1]

Thats why nVidia is the WIN and AMD sucks

No, this is why you are stupid.

But then again, there is a lot of people out there who will want to upgrade to Windows 8 and I know even the high-end 2000 series are capable of doing so

As already explained, there will be drivers for legacy cards, just not monthly.

Additionally Windows 8 will probably have compatibility drivers integrated.


This issue really isnt a big deal.

 

[Delta6326]

Aww looks like my 2x 4850's won't be supported. Might just have to get a 7970 or 680 with a whole new computer

 

[meirb111]

Missinformation.

I doubt its to do with saving money, they are just being efficient, it isnt wise to have a team of programmers working on drivers for a products which people are moving away from. Why cater for the 10% whom refuse to upgrade, when the 90% need looking after?

if that was the case they would dump 2000 wait a year then dump 3000 and a year after
4000 series but they did it in one time ,looks like big haste not gradual:shadedshu

 

[newtekie1]

Thats great for you.

It makes no sense AMD optimising drivers for video cards which can't cope with today's game anyways. You really want AMD to waste resources trying to get a 6 year old ATI 2600 to run Battlefield 3 above 10FPS on low detail.


But people with ATI 2000, 3000 and 4000 series can still use Catalyst 12.6 and older drivers which are stable. These older drivers will be in AMD's legacy section on their website. So no big deal.

It isn't about coping with todays games(even if a lot of them getting the axe do it just fine).

The important things are bug fixes and most importantly OS support. AMD did the same thing when Win7 was about to come out. They axed a crap load of cards, ending official support for them right before release of Win7, to try and force people into upgrading if they wanted to upgrade to the new OS. Luckily the Vista driver still worked, and the Win7 driver will probably work with Win8, but it should have to be this way. We should have to use unofficially supported drivers just to run an OS.

 

[pioneer]

No, this is why you are stupid.



As already explained, there will be drivers for legacy cards, just not monthly.

Additionally Windows 8 will probably have compatibility drivers integrated.


This issue really isnt a big deal.

yeh stupid isnt big deal (i got it )

absolutely- we see who's stupid -many ones like you who love they brand for any cost.in this forum we can see many ones like you(over 95% users on this forum)

nvidia still support they 8 years old card's (even split shader card's like 6000 / 7000 series graphics ) . but now we saw amd forgotten old customers for their shity reasons.and many Mentally retarded amd fanboys just Advocating shity brand.

 

[eidairaman1]

yeh stupid isnt big deal (i got it )

absolutely- we see who's stupid -many ones like you who love they brand for any cost.in this forum we can see many ones like you(over 95% users on this forum)

nvidia still support they 8 years old card's (even split shader card's like 6000 / 7000 series graphics ) . but now we saw amd forgotten old customers for their shity reasons.and many Mentally retarded amd fanboys just Advocating shity brand.

ya know what you are not very bright for arguing with other members here. Definition of a pioneer is they get arrows in the back n knees. Btw calling people a fanboy just means you are one yourself. You are very hypocritical. Also since you are new here show respect here if you want it in return otherwise you wont get it kid.

On another Note NV is guilty of dropping support aswell. Users of NF1-NF4 got shafted for driver support under Vista let alone 7. That right there made many switch to intel via sis or AMD for chipset motherboards. Btw youre telling meNv isnt guilty of dropping official support of their products. Look at GF 1-GF FX.

Atleast the last Agp driver that Amd Had for R9***-X1K ran those cards fine in Vista and 7.

 

[SIGSEGV]

i hope they can do more focus to improve their drivers to gain more robust performance for supporting their cards and compete with nvidia.

 

[eidairaman1]

i hope they can do more focus to improve their drivers to gain more robust performance for supporting their cards and compete with nvidia.

this right here is a reason they do it. Focus on newer products.

Also they cut down on overhead. In All honesty this just means driver releases pretty much become quarterly instead of monthly. If you have any problems just send up a Catalyst report.

 

[slim142]

No, this is why you are stupid.



As already explained, there will be drivers for legacy cards, just not monthly.

Additionally Windows 8 will probably have compatibility drivers integrated.


This issue really isnt a big deal.

I mentioned it because I recently installed a computer with an ATI X200 chipset and I had to use Vista 64 drivers (10.2) on the Windows 7 installation I had done.

Would really suck if I had to use Win7 drivers on Win8. I dont need 3000 cards to get performance updates (if any left), just certificated drivers for other OSs.

 

[Easo]

Awww, thats bad.
I went from 4850 to 6870. Oh boy...

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Just because there dropping support for the cards doesn't mean you can't use them any more. It's not like AMD/Ati are going to flip a switch and kill the cards. Just download the latest supporting driver and use it. Hell I ran my 9800xt for 6 yrs on the same driver without updating because the driver I was using worked great. We really don't need to upgrade to every driver released. Sometime it's best to not fix what isn't broken.

 

[OneCool]

No, this is why you are stupid.

Nope im a damn GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!

Dont worry I will hate Nv next week and love AMD

 

[swaaye]

edit-

note the news source is Phoronix. Linux stuff here methinks.

 

[creepingdeath]

This is for linux only. Does the author have an axe to grind with AMD? On nvidias payroll?

Its not cool seeing techpowerup sink to trash journalism like other sites. Way to intentionally misrepresent the truth.

 

[creepingdeath]

edit-

note the news source is Phoronix. Linux stuff here methinks.

It is for linux only. Scumbag author that posted the article didn't even bother reading or verifying the news with anyone. Good stuff!

 

[Dent1]

if that was the case they would dump 2000 wait a year then dump 3000 and a year after
4000 series but they did it in one time ,looks like big haste not gradual:shadedshu

The HD 2000 and HD 3000 were released in the same year (2007), maybe that's why they are grouping it together. The HD 4000 was released the year after, so that confuses me.

Ideally they should phase it out, I'm not disputing that, I'm just saying its not going to affect the majority of users with old cards.

nvidia still support they 8 years old card's (even split shader card's like 6000 / 7000 series graphics ) . but now we saw amd forgotten old customers for their shity reasons.and many Mentally retarded amd fanboys just Advocating shity brand.

It's not that AMD has forgotten customers, it's about using resources efficiently - They are a business with a budget.

PS.

But this thread isn't about what Nvidia does, its great that Nvidia support older cards, great for them and you, excellent, next time I see you I will give you a medal.

It isn't about being a fanboy, because I've owned Nvidia cards, I've had more Nvidia cards than ATI cards, in fact I still run Nvidia card right now in another rig. I have no problem with Nvidia. So please explain why we are fanboys?

Surely the fact that you call ATI a "shitty brand" just shows your hate towards them. Maybe the fanboy is a bit closer to home.


Edit:

This is for linux only. Does the author have an axe to grind with AMD? On nvidias payroll?

Its not cool seeing techpowerup sink to trash journalism like other sites. Way to intentionally misrepresent the truth.

Wait wait wait, so its linux only? Funny all the Nvidia fan boys show up to bash ATI, now they've got it wrong, their true colours came out - where are they now to appologise.

Are you sure they are the ones that didn't bother reading?

From the first paragraph of the source:


Next time try reading before insulting the news staff.

"Likely" isnt a conclusive definite. If news is to be posted it should be conclusive otherwise its a rumour.

 

[newtekie1]

This is for linux only. Does the author have an axe to grind with AMD? On nvidias payroll?

Its not cool seeing techpowerup sink to trash journalism like other sites. Way to intentionally misrepresent the truth.

It is for linux only. Scumbag author that posted the article didn't even bother reading or verifying the news with anyone. Good stuff!

Are you sure they are the ones that didn't bother reading?

From the first paragraph of the source:

This is likely happening with the Windows Catalyst driver too...

Next time try reading before insulting the news staff.

Wait wait wait, so its linux only? Funny all the Nvidia fan boys show up to bash ATI, now they've got it wrong, their true colours came out - where are they now to appologise.

"Likely" isnt a conclusive definite. If news is to be posted it should be conclusive otherwise its a rumour.

The news that was posted is definite, or at least concrete enough to be considered definite. AMD will be dropping support for these cards in 12.7 one way or another, and that is what was reported. Though perhaps it should be made clear that it is only definite for Linux and highly likely for Windows.

 

[Wile E]

Well this sucks. I still have my 4870x2 in the kids' computer. Piss poor driver team is exactly why I went back to NV.

 

[Dent1]

Well this sucks. I still have my 4870x2 in the kids' computer. Piss poor driver team is exactly why I went back to NV.

Its for Linux only. There is no concrete proof this will happen under Windows. Lets wait and see.

No, but it is likely, considering how they handled it in the past.

EDIT: Either way, I'm sticking to NV for the time being. Their drivers under both Windows and Linux are just better. I hope AMD gets their thumbs out of their asses sometime soon.

You are probably right, it "might" affect windows. I'm just pointing out it isnt official.

In the past they provided good legacy drivers. I don't see how this would be any different (if its true).

For some reason Linux is always the first OS to get shafted. Always wanted to move to Linux but the way it gets treated support wise from all brands makes me say "forget it".

 

[Wile E]

Its for Linux only. There is no concrete proof this will happen under Windows. Lets wait and see.

No, but it is likely, considering how they handled it in the past.

EDIT: Either way, I'm sticking to NV for the time being. Their drivers under both Windows and Linux are just better. I hope AMD gets their thumbs out of their asses sometime soon.

 

[wiak]

dont think they are fully dropping them, more like retired to lagacy driver, that gets updated every 3-6 months or so, they did that with pre x1900 series

 

[techtard]

They should have multiple driver teams.
1) Legacy for older cards, release quarterly drivers
2) Card-family specific teams that write only for their specific card. Example : Hd5xxx team, HD6xx team, HD7xxx team.
3) Dedicated teams for Windows, MacOS, Linux/*nix
Sure, it would cost more every year to increase the software and drivers teams. But the payoff would be worth it if they could actually put out lighteight, decent and stable drivers.

AMD needs to get their drivers sorted. That's one of the things holding them back. That and nV paying for game optimization on their arch, and sometimes even de-optimization for AMD/ATI.

As for this only being a Linux issue, it's only a matter of time before they discontinue monthly support for those cards on Windows too.

 

[wiak]

They should have multiple driver teams.
1) Legacy for older cards, release quarterly drivers
2) Card-family specific teams that write only for their specific card. Example : Hd5xxx team, HD6xx team, HD7xxx team.
3) Dedicated teams for Windows, MacOS, Linux/*nix
Sure, it would cost more every year to increase the software and drivers teams. But the payoff would be worth it if they could actually put out lighteight, decent and stable drivers.

AMD needs to get their drivers sorted. That's one of the things holding them back. That and nV paying for game optimization on their arch, and sometimes even de-optimization for AMD/ATI.

As for this only being a Linux issue, it's only a matter of time before they discontinue monthly support for those cards on Windows too.

they already do number 1, and 2,3 is expensive, meybe they should do team 7000 and team 6000, or they might already do that

 

[_Zod_]

Good move, waste of resources. The drivers for these cards were as optimized as they were going to be years ago. Win 7 drivers will work on Win 8 so this really is a non issue. I just wish they would offer a driver only package so you wouldn't need all of the extra bloat, same goes for nVidia it would help a lot with stability.