NVDA to end support for DX10 cards [H]

[Will Robinson]

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2014/03/13/nvidia_ending_support_for_dx10_generation_cards

Hmm that's a bit of a surprise.:hmm:

 

[Keysplayr]

Been a good run.

 

[ViRGE]

It was on AT yesterday.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7857/nvidia-announces-legacy-support-plans-for-d3d10-generation-gpus

Hmm that's a bit of a surprise.:hmm:

8 years old for the 8800GTX? Eh, it's about what I would have expected. Though I would be surprised if Fermi cards didn't go 10 years, given the slower pace of technology advancements these days.

 

[Spjut]

Considering Nvidia's DX10 cards still can play almost every game out, perhaps it's a little too early ending regular support now. I think no one counted on the Geforce 8 series to still be viable for playing games in 2014!

Nvidia seems to treat the legacy drivers quite well though, they support Windows 8 even on the Geforce 6 and 7 series.

 

[SolMiester]

Not for another 2 yrs though...LOL....April 2016

 

[DarkKnightDude]

Not surprising.

 

[SPBHM]

my geforce 6 (2004-2005) is using drivers from 2013 lol

I wonder how well a GTX 260-285 is doing at the current games, like BF4, thief and so on...

but yes, it would be surprising to drop support for Fermi (which is from 2010-2011), but for the older cards? not really.

 

[ViRGE]

Not for another 2 yrs though...LOL....April 2016

Well yes and no. The fact that they're cutting off the DX10 cards at Release 340 pretty much puts an end to playing any new games on them. NVIDIA has a similar open support window for their DX9 cards, but those cards have only received security updates. While it's possible they'll do game related bug fixes, it's unlikely since those fixes are typically part of the driver branches themselves.

 

[OCGuy]

2016...seems to be enough warning.

 

[Obsoleet]

Probably be a lot of angry customers thinking if they bought Nvidia they were getting something special.

Warning issued for inflammatory language.
-- stahlhart

 

[omeds]

Yeah, nerr nerr

 

[poohbear]

Probably be a lot of angry customers thinking if they bought Nvidia they were getting something special.

in 2016, the cards will be 10 years old. What costumer expects their video card to be working 10 years on? i'm surprised they haven't gone up in smoke after 10 years of gaming!

 

[ocre]

Probably be a lot of angry customers thinking if they bought Nvidia they were getting something special.

yep, that card they bought in 2008 will quit getting regular driver updates in 2016. Going legacy.

Thats an interesting statement you make.

The 200 series was competing with AMD HD 4000 series. When did AMD send that line to legacy support again? Its been awhile ago i know (yr(s)). It may not be special but if they bought an Nvidia card in that time frame, they got a lot longer support than someone who bought from the competition. Its also good to know that there is still support now and up until April 2016. Thats plenty of notice i would think.

 

[OCGuy]

Nm

 

[mikeymikec]

I think that it's a bit wrong to still have the 210 on sale when they're talking about abandoning support for it completely in a couple of years.

 

[Lonyo]

yep, that card they bought in 2008 will quit getting regular driver updates in 2016. Going legacy.

Thats an interesting statement you make.

The 200 series was competing with AMD HD 4000 series. When did AMD send that line to legacy support again? Its been awhile ago i know (yr(s)). It may not be special but if they bought an Nvidia card in that time frame, they got a lot longer support than someone who bought from the competition. Its also good to know that there is still support now and up until April 2016. Thats plenty of notice i would think.

So basically the level of support offered by NV for their old cards is superior to that offered by AMD because NV include old cards in their driver pack?
Or (serious question), is there evidence of actual support in newer drivers that improves/changes things for old NV cards?

Just because NV package their driver for old cards in with new ones doesn't mean that newer drivers add anything support wise for the old cards, or make any changes.
AMD have explicitly stated with their method that there's a lower level of support for older cards with less frequent updates, but people just assume NV are updating their older cards because they are included in the regular driver updates. Is there any actual evidence for actual changes which relate to older cards, or is it all speculation and assumption?

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/68801/en-us

Performance Boost – Increases performance by up to 19% for GeForce 400/500/600/700 series GPUs in several PC games vs. GeForce 327.23

Other than "supporting" older cards, there's nothing in the key release notes to indicate there's anything different for older cards in the latest driver release, so is it actually any different to AMD's "legacy" driver with less frequent updates?

 

[Keysplayr]

So without any research you maintain that there are no performance improvements, bug fixes, compatibility issues resolved in anything older than a Fermi. You maintain that an old XP driver for a 8800GTS 640 will work on a Windows 7/8/8.1 64bit machine. Am I getting this right or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[3DVagabond]

I think after a while it's resources that can better serve customers elsewhere. If anyone's still rocking a 200 series it's time to upgrade anyhow.

 

[el etro]

GTX 295 is the only DX10 card that still can play games with good quality. Most of today AAA games is DX11 only.

 

[Lonyo]

So without any research you maintain that there are no performance improvements, bug fixes, compatibility issues resolved in anything older than a Fermi. You maintain that an old XP driver for a 8800GTS 640 will work on a Windows 7/8/8.1 64bit machine. Am I getting this right or am I misunderstanding you?

No, you are deliberately trying to be an idiot, as you well know.
He implied that NV have a greater level of support for older cards because they are rolled into the latest drivers release.

I question whether that meant they had a greater level of support, since just being in a driver doesn't mean it's actually got any more or less support than if you were using a much older driver.

Or (serious question), is there evidence of actual support in newer drivers that improves/changes things for old NV cards?

AMD haven't updated their "old" driver for nearly 12 months now, because they state that there's nothing to do to improve older cards.
If you compared an 8800GTX on a 12 month old driver to one on the latest drivers, would there be a change in performance?
I even asked that question in my post, and used a quote from the latest driver release to highlight the fact that the performance increases stated are for newer cards without mention of anything for older cards, although I only looked at the newest drivers.

Releasing driver updates which include a driver for old cards does not mean that those old cards are "supported" or in any way changed, it just means they are included in the new driver.
If you have a relevant card, then please do some testing. I don't, so I can't, so I am not "maintaining" anything, I am asking a question.

Also the 8800 series was released after Vista. Hence my comment about you deliberately being an idiot.

Where is your evidence that there is a greater level of support simply because the 8800 is included in the latest drivers?
AMD could quite easily I'm sure add back support for old cards in their driver releases. It wouldn't change the level of actual support those cards received, but apparently it would change the level of perceived support they were receiving. Maybe they should do it for free PR points, even though it wouldn't make the slightest bit of actual difference to people who own the cards, other than feeling like there was a reason to download a new 200+mb driver for their card simply because.

Warning issued for personal attack.
-- stahlhart

 

[Spjut]

It's clear that Nvidia has supported their DX10 cards to an extent, and not just left old code in the new drivers.

For example, back in 2012, adaptive Vsync was added to the Geforce 8 series.
The OpenGL 4.4 drivers, released last year, also included new extensions for OpenGL 3 hw.
The DX10 cards also got support for Windows 8.1.


AMD's legacy drivers however have no support for Windows 8.1, and there's no mention of what fixes 13.9 legacy brought. And if you compare the versions listed in the "Software" tab in the legacy Catalysts, you'll notice they've barely changed.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

my geforce 6 (2004-2005) is using drivers from 2013 lol

I wonder how well a GTX 260-285 is doing at the current games, like BF4, thief and so on...

but yes, it would be surprising to drop support for Fermi (which is from 2010-2011), but for the older cards? not really.

My GTX260 ran the BF4 beta/demo at medium/low settings. Not sure what the frame rate was but it was playable.

 

[sandorski]

DX10 has been around that long? D:

Time flies by.

 

[tential]

Ending support doesn't mean your DX10 card will all of a sudden stop working (right...?)

Not really a big deal.

 

[SolMiester]

Probably be a lot of angry customers thinking if they bought Nvidia they were getting something special.

Warning issued for inflammatory language.
-- stahlhart

I wonder if AMD owners thought the same thing about their 4xxx series cards..Didnt they lose support over a year ago?