AMD to Discontinue Windows 10 Support for its Ryzen 9000 "Strix Point" Mobile Processors

[btarunr]

AMD is rumored to be discontinuing driver support for the Windows 10 operating system for its next-generation mobile processors, starting with the upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Strix Point" (and possibly "Strix Halo" and other chips from the generation). This would mean a lack of official drivers for the XDNA 2 NPU, SoC components, and possibly even the iGPU. This who know their way around manual driver installation might have some luck getting the Windows 11 drivers to work on Windows 10, but for the most part, notebooks and pre-built SFF desktops powered by these chips will not come with Windows 10 preinstalled, since there won't be any official drivers from AMD.

The CPU of Ryzen 9000 "Strix Point" processors should still very much work with Windows 10. This however doesn't cover the upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processors, which have minimal hardware that need drivers, except for the basic iGPU they pack. Microsoft is discontinuing Windows 10 from regular updates on October 14, 2025. Those who want to hold on to the operating system need to pay for extended security update plans that get progressively pricier with each year.



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[ExcuseMeWtf]

We'll see about that again when AMD will post their revenue results for time period after those hit the market...

 

[cristi_io]

Probably Intel will do the same with their mobile ArrowLake/Luna lake/whatever Lake.

 

[roberto888]

Dick move AMD....dick move!

 

[Woomack]

Win10 will have 10 years in the next year. This is a typical support period for MS products (unless the market forces it, in which case it's extended). Mobile devices like laptops usually appear on the market 6-8 months after the new CPU/chipset premiere. In short, new AMD mobile chips will be widely available in 2025. Take into consideration that Win12 will probably be released in the upcoming months. There will be a lot of other brands that won't fully support Win10 since 2025.
I highly doubt it will affect the market, as there are barely any devices with Win10 in stores already. Only the old series and some business options have Win10.

 

[stimpy88]

Wow, so Microsoft is still pushing the whole Windows 11 is actually different to Windows 10 thing!

Win10 will have 10 years in the next year. This is a typical support period for MS products (unless the market forces it, in which case it's extended). Mobile devices like laptops usually appear on the market 6-8 months after the new CPU/chipset premiere. In short, new AMD mobile chips will be widely available in 2025. Take into consideration that Win12 will probably be released in the upcoming months. There will be a lot of other brands that won't fully support Win10 since 2025.
I highly doubt it will affect the market, as there are barely any devices with Win10 in stores already. Only the old series and some business options have Win10.

And the actual architectural difference between Win10 and 11 is?

 

[SL2]

And the actual architectural difference between Win10 and 11 is?

Exactly, just pick W11, it's almost the same.

 

[holyprof]

I hate Win 11 (use it at work every day) and will hold on to 10 on my desktop and laptop right until it is discontinued, but admit that doesn't make sense releasing Win 10 drivers for a 2025 product.
Shouldn't be the same with GPUs though, I guess both AMD and Nvidia will have to release Win10 drivers even for their new 8XXX and 5XXX series for some years to come.
There might be a lot of people with perfectly working but incompatible with Win11 PCs who will want to upgrade their GPUs.

 

[Shou Miko]

Dick move AMD....dick move!

True, but Intel and Nvidia will do the same when Windows 10 goes end of life on October 14, 2025 expect some LTSC versions but again majority doesn't use them so if you don't want Windows 11 and 12 go Linux or stop complaining.

 

[SL2]

Dick move AMD....dick move!

What exactly do you expect? W10 will be discontinued within a year of this launch. WTF can AMD do about that?

Don't blame AMD for W10 reaching EOL.

Don't blame MS for ending W10 after TEN years.

Blame MS if you hate W11.

True, but Intel and Nvidia will do the same when Windows 10 goes end of life on October 14, 2025 expect some LTSC versions but again majority doesn't use them so if you don't want Windows 11 and 12 go Linux or stop complaining.

LTSC, yeah, is there even a legit way to run that for a consumer?

I'd guess no, so why would AMD care here?

 

[The Shield]

Someone can tell me is Windows 11 il still affected by the awful impossibility to keep separated the icons in the desktop bar? If I open 10 excel sheets, is it possible to keep them separated in the taskbar?

 

[Dr. Dro]

LTSC, yeah, is there even a legit way to run that for a consumer?

I'd guess no, so why would AMD care here?

Not to mention LTSC has NEVER guaranteed forwards compatibility with new hardware.

Dick move AMD....dick move!

You all brought this upon yourselves for being luddites, if the industry hadn't forced people's hands they'd still be using Windows XP today. Just look at the Windows 7 holdouts, clinically afraid of change.

Since Windows is now designed to be kept current at any cost, you also get no say about all of its undesirables unless you stop using it altogether. And it's all your fault for claiming to be proud to run a 15 year old unpatched copy of Windows 7 with Windows Update stripped out of it.

But those leaving Windows aren't getting Linux PC's. They're buying Macs. The rest is unwilling to learn anything else and just accept their fate.

 

[SL2]

Shouldn't be the same with GPUs though, I guess both AMD and Nvidia will have to release Win10 drivers even for their new 8XXX and 5XXX series for some years to come.

Yeah that's a whole different thing. The last Radeon driver for W7 came 10 years after W8 launched.

That's not the only thing that matters tho, as you'd miss out on features like D3D12.

 

[Shou Miko]

LTSC, yeah, is there even a legit way to run that for a consumer?

I'd guess no, so why would AMD care here?

If you can find a VAR/reseller that will sell it to you even you ain't a business than yes, going on Ebay and such ain't legal.

Not to mention LTSC has NEVER guaranteed forwards compatibility with new hardware.

Correct, but OEMs like Lenovo can sell newer hardware with LTSC support if required so I am not sure how that really works.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Yeah that's a whole different thing. The last Radeon driver for W7 came 10 years after W8 launched.

That's not the only thing that matters tho, as you'd miss out on features like D3D12.

Well let's not forget AMD was also the company that dropped Windows 8.1 driver support by 2017. So there's that.

Correct, but OEMs like Lenovo can sell newer hardware with LTSC support if required so I am not sure how that really works.

It's simple, they use a newer LTSC build with newer iterations of their machines. If you try to install LTSB 2016 on a system designed for LTSC 2021 you'll run into all sorts of driver compatibility issues.

 

[SL2]

Someone can tell me is Windows 11 il still affected by the awful impossibility to keep separated the icons in the desktop bar? If I open 10 excel sheets, is it possible to keep them separated in the taskbar?

Yeah, I don't care what the start menu looks like, but this is a must. There are workarounds at least, which are needed since W10 anyway.

Windhawk mods for the Windows 11 taskbar - Ramen Software

Well let's not forget AMD was also the company that dropped Windows 8.1 driver support by 2017. So there's that.

I'm pretty sure it's related to W8.1 lack of popularity, combined with free W10 upgrade. I don't think it made many users sad in the face. W7 had a bigger user base.

I didn't mention your example because W8.1 wasn't popular, unlike W7 and W10.

 

[Wirko]

Not to mention LTSC has NEVER guaranteed forwards compatibility with new hardware.

Yes, and also the purpose of using LTSC goes very much against the purpose of upgrading hardware.

 

[Onasi]

And the actual architectural difference between Win10 and 11 is?

Supposedly there will be more of one once 24H2 hits. But if you really want to go for the throat, then you could argue that the last actual major kernel change was Vista and we’ve been just riding that ever since, so…

 

[Chrispy_]

Ugh, I was hoping Windows 12 would be out before this happened.

Regardless of whether you feel Windows 11 is superior to Windows 10 or not, the real problem is that Windows 10 is running on almost 3x as many devices worldwide as Windows 11, and thanks to some particularly egregious and anti-consumer practices of late, Windows 11's popularity is actually declining, in favour of Windows 10.

Windows 11 market share declines as users seemingly shift back to Windows 10

Microsoft still can't make users shift to Windows 11

www.tomshardware.com

Getting people onto Windows 11 would be easier if Microsoft didn't also strip away a user's autonomy in the process. I fully understand that consumer data is the product being sold but Windows 11 feels like one massive overdue antitrust case that blows the old mutli-billion dollar lawsuits of Microsoft vs the EU and Microsoft vs the US Government into insignificance.

 

[Wirko]

Someone can tell me is Windows 11 il still affected by the awful impossibility to keep separated the icons in the desktop bar? If I open 10 excel sheets, is it possible to keep them separated in the taskbar?

Every Excel sheet has its own icon and its associated title. (What good are icons without titles?) But they are grouped and glued together, and you can't reorder them within the group. It's no different if you open multiple instances of the same program (Excel, Firefox, file explorer) - all icons of the same program remain in one group.

 

[Pumper]

We can hate this move, but it makes sense, as these laptops will come with Win 11/12 out of the box anyway. I can't imagine anyone getting a brand new laptop with Win 11 or 12 license and go to the trouble to downgrade to 10.

 

[Onasi]

Ugh, I was hoping Windows 12 would be out before this happened.

I thought it’s been accepted that Windows 12 isn’t a thing for now and what leaks there were essentially were misinterpreting 24H2 changes, no? Am I missing something?

 

[Chrispy_]

I thought it’s been accepted that Windows 12 isn’t a thing for now and what leaks there were essentially were misinterpreting 24H2 changes, no? Am I missing something?

Leaks and rumours yes, nothing concrete that I'm aware of.

 

[Wirko]

If Win 10 on Ryzen 9000 works at all, I'm sure those (and new ones of the same colour) will be fully supported...

The number of unsightly black boxes has grown by 100% in this generation.
View attachment 237169

 

[Daven]

Exactly, just pick W11, it's almost the same.

Lol yep. If they are both the same might as well pick the newer one that is free and continues to get support.