AMD to Drop Support for Pre HD 5000 GPUs

[Spjut]

Complain about linux drivers? Whats nvidias linux support like? The original source is a linux only website and does not state anything regarding windows 8 or 7 or xp etc.

This is what Phoronix said

At the moment I don't know for certain whether the HD 2000/3000/4000 series support will be removed from the Windows Catalyst driver too, but it looks that way and I would assume so as the ~40-million-line Catalyst driver code-base is largely shared across platforms. The last time AMD dropped hardware supprt from their mainline Catalyst code-base, they did it at the same time for Windows and Linux.

Windows and Linux drivers were both abandonded at the same time in the past

Isn't the 4250/4290 still being sold on 8xx/9xx series AMD motherboards? (AM3+)

This must be for dedicated GPU's.

Even so, not a big deal. Its not like the 4000 series can seriously game these days unless your running 4800 series (or have them crossfired). Even then, not ideal.

What's ideal? Does every card nowadays have to play Battlefield 3 on at least high settings at 1080p for a GPU to count as viable for gaming?

Many multiplatform games are still DX9 only, and the HD4000 series can still play many of them at high settings...
Then there are games like Battlefield 3, that these older cards still can play at low and medium smoothly, higher than that if their monitors have lower resolutions

Everyone knows that older cards won't play the new demanding games on the highest graphics, but to say that they don't cut it for gaming anymore is just ignorant

 

[Chiropteran]

Nvidia's latest win7/win8 drivers though, go back all the way to the Geforce 6 series...When AMD ends support for even their HD4000 series however, isn't it fair to complain?

6 series Radeon are still supported also. I don't see the issue.

The only difference is nvidia has a bunch of "fake" series inbetween so it looks like they are supporting more older versions.

8 series was renamed 9 series, which was renamed 100, then 200, and then 300. Only at the 400 series cards did nvidia actually release something new, with fermi. So it might looks like nvidia is support a lot more old cards it's really just that nvidia sat on the 8800 gtx and renamed it so many times that they have 4 generations of the exact same card with alternate names.

 

[waffleironhead]

I didnt see any source for the information. Is this coinciding with the release date of windows8? It could be they are dropping dx10,10.1 drivers for win8.

 

[jacktesterson]

This is what Phoronix said


Windows and Linux drivers were both abandonded at the same time in the past



What's ideal? Does every card nowadays have to play Battlefield 3 on at least high settings at 1080p for a GPU to count as viable for gaming?

Many multiplatform games are still DX9 only, and the HD4000 series can still play many of them at high settings...
Then there are games like Battlefield 3, that these older cards still can play at low and medium smoothly, higher than that if their monitors have lower resolutions

Everyone knows that older cards won't play the new demanding games on the highest graphics, but to say that they don't cut it for gaming anymore is just ignorant

I'm not being ignorant.

I said its not ideal, which is true.

I'm about as value minded as they come. I buy everything based on bang for the buck and often buy used. Look at my main rig... everything was bought used or value in mind.

If you want to game on low on quite a few games out there, which the 4800 series will all but do, go right ahead. I realize it will still play tons of games out there though. Is it ideal? Your opinion of "ideal" is no more valid than mine.

Its like saying its ideal for a 6'6 man to drive a Hyundai Accent across America. It will work, but its gonna suck at times.

 

[thilanliyan]

8 series was renamed 9 series, which was renamed 100, then 200, and then 300. Only at the 400 series cards did nvidia actually release something new, with fermi. So it might looks like nvidia is support a lot more old cards it's really just that nvidia sat on the 8800 gtx and renamed it so many times that they have 4 generations of the exact same card with alternate names.

I lol'd at that.

 

[formulav8]

I lol'd at that.

Haha, that is way to True

Also, it may just be AMD is dropping mainstream support for the old cards but will still provide major bug fixes and whatnot. But not sure....

 

[Lepton87]

Is it ideal? Your opinion of "ideal" is no more valid than mine.

Anything less than 4x680SLI or 4x7970 QuadFire is not ideal. So this argument is pretty useless.

 

[Kenmitch]

Just another thing to gripe about....Most reading this forum aren't gonna be running some antique video card anyways!

Supporting outdated hardware for life isn't in the best interest of any company.

Backwards compatability is the achilles heal of computing!

 

[Lepton87]

Just another thing to gripe about....Most reading this forum aren't gonna be running some antique video card anyways!

I wouldn't call a 4890 or 4870x2 antique, those cards are still viable for gaming and faster then current low-end (7770)

 

[jacktesterson]

Anything less than 4x680SLI or 4x7970 QuadFire is not ideal. So this argument is pretty useless.

I'd love to hear that argument.

I think the point is a 4850/4870/4890 is starting to show its age. Nothing more.

People need to chill.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Shocking

 

[iCyborg]

8 series was renamed 9 series, which was renamed 100, then 200, and then 300. Only at the 400 series cards did nvidia actually release something new, with fermi. So it might looks like nvidia is support a lot more old cards it's really just that nvidia sat on the 8800 gtx and renamed it so many times that they have 4 generations of the exact same card with alternate names.

Seems like AMD is catching up too: 5450 is renamed to 7350. It's probably to please OEMs, but I still I hate that they do this.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Which is why, again, Nvidia has much better driver support. They're still supporting the Geforce 6 series.

This is true.

Edit: I think that this is an unfortunate turn of events, if it's true. HD4xxx series, at least the higher-end cards, are still viable for gaming.

This is really equivalent to NV dropping support for the multitude of 8800GT/9800GT cards out there. They are basically of the same vintage. You don't see NV doing that, do you? I would say that NV fans would be relatively MORE up in arms if they did that.

 

[Kenmitch]

I wouldn't call a 4890 or 4870x2 antique, those cards are still viable for gaming and faster then current low-end (7770)

Looks at your sig and it proves my point. Why worry about something you don't even have.

I can see your point but if it doesn't effect you then why complain?

Most people running these dropped support cards don't even know what drivers are anyways!

 

[exar333]

6 series Radeon are still supported also. I don't see the issue.

The only difference is nvidia has a bunch of "fake" series inbetween so it looks like they are supporting more older versions.

8 series was renamed 9 series, which was renamed 100, then 200, and then 300. Only at the 400 series cards did nvidia actually release something new, with fermi. So it might looks like nvidia is support a lot more old cards it's really just that nvidia sat on the 8800 gtx and renamed it so many times that they have 4 generations of the exact same card with alternate names.

The difference is NV supports 6-year old GPUs and AMD only will support half of that. That IS a big difference. NV (as other posters pointed out) not only supports some of the older series', but releases new features for them as well. I like both companies, but its ignorant to claim support is the same when one company supports for twice the amount of time vs. the other. Throw Linux support in, and NV has obvious better support.

 

[blckgrffn]

Man, you'd hope that we'd get a ways into 2013 for the 4xxx series with regards to driver support, so that there is some solid Windows 8 drivers for them. Then they could be feasible to use for another 3-4 years or so for many.

Realistically, you can throw away the 48xx series and the 4770 about the time you toss an 8800 (G80?) up to a GTS 250 (G92?) level card. At the LANs I host, this level of GPU is super-common. Source? Check. SC2? Check. Serious Sam BFE? Check.

This doesn't effect me much, but I recommended the crap out of the 4830 to a bunch of my budget-strapped friends and that card is really still doing well, all things considered. Although some of them are still on Vista, so I guess it doesn't matter that much to them

Anyway, bummer.

If they tighten their focus and get some DC apps working well with GCN, I will forgive them. Maybe.

 

[jacktesterson]

Seems like AMD is catching up too: 5450 is renamed to 7350. It's probably to please OEMs, but I still I hate that they do this.

The 6450 actually had a performance boost over the 5450.

I wonder if the 7350 has a little boost as well?

Not that it really matters. Great HTPC cards (6450).

 

[OCGuy]

Wow AMD....bad move.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Wow AMD....bad move.

So it was bad choice for Microsoft to stop supporting Windows ME?

 

[Chiropteran]

The difference is NV supports 6-year old GPUs and AMD only will support half of that. That IS a big difference.

But do they really? Sure, the new drivers work on the old cards. Maybe it works like this...

NVidia Driver Installer: Hey videocard, what GPU are you.

GPU: 8800 GTS Mr. Installer, wheres my driver?

NVidia Driver Installer: Oh here it is videocard, version 0.04-old-2006.

GPU: Thank you Mr. installer.


That is, how do you know the old GPU are actually getting any new functionality? Maybe they have been using the same drivers as 4 years ago, but nvidia still packages them with the new drivers.

 

[OCGuy]

So it was bad choice for Microsoft to stop supporting Windows ME?

The 4XXX series isn't THAT old. It can still run any game at low settings on a standard resolution.

They don't need to put constant updates out for it just to do it. But they need to support the next OS releases.

Hell, software developers are just now starting to exclude DX9 hardware (BF3), so all DX10 hardware should still be supported.

 

[blckgrffn]

The 4XXX series isn't THAT old. It can still run any game at low settings on a standard resolution.

They don't need to put constant updates out for it just to do it. But they need to support the next OS releases.

Hell, software developers are just now starting to exclude DX9 hardware (BF3), so all DX10 hardware should still be supported.

I'd be comfortable if they were dropping all 3xxx chips and earlier, honestly. How many 2xxx and 3xxx cards are really still out there, playing games?

I have a 3870 in a rig currently, but I would understand if it didn't get W8 support.

Not that they aren't suitable for games, as much as any current lower end part, but they are getting old.

 

[amenx]

6 series Radeon are still supported also. I don't see the issue.

The only difference is nvidia has a bunch of "fake" series inbetween so it looks like they are supporting more older versions.

8 series was renamed 9 series, which was renamed 100, then 200, and then 300. Only at the 400 series cards did nvidia actually release something new, with fermi. So it might looks like nvidia is support a lot more old cards it's really just that nvidia sat on the 8800 gtx and renamed it so many times that they have 4 generations of the exact same card with alternate names.

Nvidia never renamed the 8800 gtx. They renamed the 8800gts 512mb to 9800 and then to 250gts but with slight performance improvements and added vidmem. AMD picked up on the idea and began to do something similar themselves recently.

And with the fx5xx series, I should hope Nvidia isnt wasting time offering support for 9-10 year old cards. Still surprised they offer support for the 6 series (8 years).

Personally I cant see AMD dropping windows support for the 4xxx (just 3 years old), that would be too huge fail from a marketing standpoint. GPUs NEED constant updates to run new games optimally. If true, I would never consider an AMD card in any future upgrade, but I doubt its true, its just too nonsensical. No Linux support maybe, not windows.

 

[hawtdawg]

From where I'm sitting, they stopped supporting the 4xxx GPU's in any meaningful way quite a while ago.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I'd be comfortable if they were dropping all 3xxx chips and earlier, honestly. How many 2xxx and 3xxx cards are really still out there, playing games?

I have a 3870 in a rig currently, but I would understand if it didn't get W8 support.

Not that they aren't suitable for games, as much as any current lower end part, but they are getting old.

Current drivers have support for Windows 8, not that it matters because W8 is a piece of ****.