The World's First Microsoft Windows 8.1 Certified Motherboard - MSI Z87-G43

[newtekie1]

So what does this exactly means??

It means that for a system to be Certified to Windows 8.1 the GPU has to have a WDDM 1.3 driver, and for a GPU driver to be WHQL certified for Windows 8.1 it has to be WDDM 1.3. However, I haven't seen anything that says Windows 8.1 will block WDDM 1.2/1.1 drivers from being installed.

 

[Prima.Vera]

It means that for a system to be Certified to Windows 8.1 the GPU has to have a WDDM 1.3 driver, and for a GPU driver to be WHQL certified for Windows 8.1 it has to be WDDM 1.3. However, I haven't seen anything that says Windows 8.1 will block WDDM 1.2/1.1 drivers from being installed.

No, I mean what does WDDM 1.3 have in plus over the one from Win 7??

 

[newtekie1]

No, I mean what does WDDM 1.3 have in plus over the one from Win 7??

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn265512(v=vs.85).aspx

Whatever that means.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

But that is just the requirements for the device to be certified for Windows 8.1, in other words the requirement for WHQL, but nothing is stopping anyone from using non-WHQL drivers.

So I'm pretty confident that if it worked in Win8, it will work in Win8.1.

If all drivers aren't WHQL certified, it can't get certified for Windows 8.1. I think what you're trying to say is that WDDM 1.3 doesn't require DirectX 11.1 hardware to which, I agree.

Page 51 of the previously linked PDF:

The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) was introduced with Windows Vista as a replacement to the Windows XP Display Driver Model (XDDM). The WDDM architecture offers functionality to enable features such as desktop composition, enhanced fault Tolerance, video memory manager, scheduler, cross process sharing of D3D surfaces and so on. WDDM was specifically designed for modern graphics devices that are a minimum of Direct3D 10 Feature Level 9_3 with pixel shader 2.0 or better and have all the necessary hardware features to support the WDDM functionality of memory management, scheduling, and fault tolerance. WDDM for Windows Vista was referred to as "WDDM v1.0". WDDM 1.0 is required for Windows Vista.

Windows 7 made incremental changes to the driver model for supporting Windows 7 features and capabilities and is referred to as "WDDM v1.1" and is a strict superset of WDDM 1.0. WDDM v1.1 introduces support for D3D11, GDI hardware acceleration, Connecting and Configuring Displays, DXVA HD, and other features. WDDM 1.1 is required for Windows 7.

Windows 8 also introduces features and capabilities that require graphics driver changes. These incremental changes range from small changes such as smooth rotation, to large changes such as 3D stereo, and D3D11 video support. The WDDM driver model that provides these Windows 8 features is referred to as "WDDM v1.2." WDDM v1.2 is a superset of WDDM 1.1, and WDDM 1.0.

WDDM v1.2 is required by all systems shipped with Windows 8. WDDM 1.0 and WDDM 1.1 will only be supported with legacy devices on legacy systems. The best experience and Windows 8 specific features are only enabled by a WDDM 1.2 driver. A WDDM driver that implements some WDDM 1.2 required features, but not all required features will fail to load on Windows 8.

For Windows 8 XDDM is officially retired and XDDM drivers will no longer load on Windows 8 Client or Server.

Windows 8.1 introduces features and capabilities that require graphic driver changes. WDDMv1.3 brings significant improvement in areas related to performance, power and reliability for Windows.

WDDMv1.3 is required by all systems shipped with Windows 8.1.

It doesn't suggest at all that there's major hardware changes (e.g. Pixel Shader 4.0 required). I think it's purely a software update going from WDDM 1.2 (Windows 8) to WDDM 1.3 (Windows 8.1).

 

[rtwjunkie]

It doesn't suggest at all that there's major hardware changes (e.g. Pixel Shader 4.0 required). I think it's purely a software update going from WDDM 1.2 (Windows 8) to WDDM 1.3 (Windows 8.1).

...so does this mean that as long as we're running a WDDM, we should be fine? As above, I mentioned I am using a P5Q Deluxe with QX9650 and a GTX 650ti Boost SC. I should be able to upgrade this W8 testbed to 8.1?

 

[newtekie1]

...so does this mean that as long as we're running a WDDM, we should be fine? As above, I mentioned I am using a P5Q Deluxe with QX9650 and a GTX 650ti Boost SC. I should be able to upgrade this W8 testbed to 8.1?

WDDM stands for Windows Display Driver Model, meaning it only affects video card drivers. Since you are using a very modern video card you'll be fine. In fact nVidia has already released WDDM 1.3 compliant drivers for their modern cards.

As for all the other drivers, nothing really has changed, so if it works in 8 it will work in 8.1.

If all drivers aren't WHQL certified, it can't get certified for Windows 8.1. I think what you're trying to say is that WDDM 1.3 doesn't require DirectX 11.1 hardware to which, I agree.

Page 51 of the previously linked PDF:

It doesn't suggest at all that there's major hardware changes (e.g. Pixel Shader 4.0 required). I think it's purely a software update going from WDDM 1.2 (Windows 8) to WDDM 1.3 (Windows 8.1).

Yes, that is what I was saying originally. And that getting existing hardware certified for Windows 8.1 is really meaningless since anything certified for Windows 8 will work work Windows 8.1. This whole certification crap that the industry has moved to, largely thanks to Microsoft, is BS. I don't see why a monitor has to be certified to work with an OS when it is uses industry standard connectors and interfaces that have been in use years.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Thanks Newtekie1! That's what I thought and suspected, just didn't know when XDDM stopped being used and WDDM became what is installed with OS and drivers, and if it affected the old hardware I had.

But, since 8 installed perfectly without any driver problems or trouble with graphics, then I guess I don't have ant XDDM in the system.