Ryzen will support Windows 7

[JDG1980]

https://www.techpowerup.com/230291/amd-readies-ryzen-platform-drivers-for-windows-7

Interesting news - previously it was said or implied that only Windows 10 would be supported. This is probably aimed at businesses, many of which will be remaining on Windows 7 for the foreseeable future. Smart move on AMD's part.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, sounds like I might get Ryzen then. Good news!

 

[CHADBOGA]

That is very clever on AMD's part.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Clever, yes, but it makes a lot of practical sense too. Win7 still has the majority market share of Windows users, and most businesses are probably still on Win7 too. With Intel and MS "forcing" people to move to Win10, because "Kaby Lake is only supported in Win10", I'm glad that AMD is giving us users a real alternative, and letting us stick with our favorite OS.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I totally called that in some other Zen thread.

Clever, yes, but it makes a lot of practical sense too. Win7 still has the majority market share of Windows users, and most businesses are probably still on Win7 too. With Intel and MS "forcing" people to move to Win10, because "Kaby Lake is only supported in Win10", I'm glad that AMD is giving us users a real alternative, and letting us stick with our favorite OS.

A big lol if you think Intel won't cave in and end up supporting KBL anyway in Win7. Win10 is the red-headed stepchild that businesses wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole even if MS gave it for free.

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm glad that AMD is giving us users a real alternative

Provided it's not another failure of Bulldozer proportions.

 

[nopainnogain]

I guess I'm starting to understand what "thread crapping" means.

I want to be able to make a choice.

 

[mikeymikec]

I guess I'm starting to understand what "thread crapping" means.

I want to be able to make a choice.

Presumably that was aimed at my comment. Please explain how it was thread crapping.

"Thread-crapping" doesn't mean "comments you don't like". I too would like a useful choice; ~95% of the CPUs I bought in the previous decade were AMD.

At any rate, KBL or Ryzen will work on Win7, "supported" or not. If they didn't work, I would be surprised if they were x86/x64 compatible. "Optimised" is another matter entirely. It might be the case that either don't work well with Win7's scheduler and MS/manufacturer are unwilling to patch it to make it work better, at which point we're back around to the "real choice" question, because if either runs more like a three-legged horse on Win7 then I doubt that many would see either as a "real choice", just like if Ryzen runs like Bulldozer (on Win7 or otherwise), I doubt that many would see it as a "real choice".

 

[TheELF]

Yup as mike said, the cpus do support windows 7 (and kaby mobos do have win 7 drivers) but windows 7 does not "support" the new cpus as in there won't be any specific performance/stability/whatev patches for win 7.

 

[superstition]

Presumably that was aimed at my comment. Please explain how it was thread crapping.

Unless AMD flat-out totally fabricated its demos it's impossible for Zen to be as little of an improvement over the Vishera architecture as Bulldozer was over Phenom.

Just the simple fact that it will have as many FPU units as integer alone will clearly improve its FP performance by a lot over Piledriver. One doesn't even need a demo to figure that out. On top of that we're looking at a node shrinkage from 32nm to 14nm with FinFET. That's huge.

So, yes, it's not credible to be concerned over Zen not being a significant improvement over Vishera. The real question is how competitive it will be with Intel.

 

[coercitiv]

Unless AMD flat-out totally fabricated its demos it's impossible for Zen to be as little of an improvement over the Vishera architecture as Bulldozer was over Phenom.

To underline your post: we have benchmarks and opinions from independent sources indicating Zen is competitive. Whether it's a success or not we don't know yet, but we do know it's not a failure.

People still lingering on the idea that Zen may be a flop are a few months late to the party. We don't play that tune anymore.

 

[NTMBK]

Clever, yes, but it makes a lot of practical sense too. Win7 still has the majority market share of Windows users, and most businesses are probably still on Win7 too. With Intel and MS "forcing" people to move to Win10, because "Kaby Lake is only supported in Win10", I'm glad that AMD is giving us users a real alternative, and letting us stick with our favorite OS.

Majority share of existing users is very different from majority share of new systems sold. I'm pretty sure that 99% of new PCs will be running Windows 10 (with a few exceptions for businesses who need Windows 7 for compatibility reasons). Vocal tech nerds who hate Windows 10 and go to the effort of installing an older OS are significantly in the minority.

 

[superstition]

Vocal tech nerds who hate Windows 10 and go to the effort of installing an older OS are significantly in the minority.

People building enthusiast systems are a minority, too (particularly in comparison with the bulk OEM business), but it's a profitable area.

A very significant majority of computer users don't even need an 8 core CPU for their Facebook and MS Word documents.

 

[NTMBK]

People building enthusiast systems are a minority, too (particularly in comparison with the bulk OEM business), but it's a profitable area.

A very significant majority of computer users don't even need an 8 core CPU for their Facebook and MS Word documents.

And this significant majority are targeted by APUs. Zen is mostly aimed at servers, with the enthusiast market being a profitable little bit on the side.

 

[superstition]

Are APUs what everyone is excited about right now?

 

[NTMBK]

Are APUs what everyone is excited about right now?

No, everyone is excited about iPhones The "significant majority" we were discussing don't really get excited about computers at all, they just buy a new one if the old one breaks.

 

[dark zero]

Majority share of existing users is very different from majority share of new systems sold. I'm pretty sure that 99% of new PCs will be running Windows 10 (with a few exceptions for businesses who need Windows 7 for compatibility reasons). Vocal tech nerds who hate Windows 10 and go to the effort of installing an older OS are significantly in the minority.

Err.. actually some bussiness like banks uses Windows 7 for compatibility reasons. And they are not few people... Also older persons started to like Windows 7 from XP.

So the ammount of people which still uses Windows 7 is not low.

 

[LTC8K6]

The key to support is with Microsoft, not Intel or AMD.

The OS has to support the new chip features that are found in KL and Zen.

Bulldozer had a slight problem with Win7 and threading that MS had to fix, for example.

I don't think there will be a problem with KL and Zen for Win7 for quite a while in any case.

 

[TheELF]

So the ammount of people which still uses Windows 7 is not low.

Still nobody cares,anybody who buys ryzen or kaby for mainstream usage (gaming) will want to have dx12 (and gamemode...lol)working so they will go for win10,win 7 will still work if someone needs it for whatever reasons, MS is just not going to release any patches for either system (ryzen or kaby)

 

[NTMBK]

Err.. actually some bussiness like banks uses Windows 7 for compatibility reasons. And they are not few people... Also older persons started to like Windows 7 from XP.

So the ammount of people which still uses Windows 7 is not low.

Still uses != buying new machine running it. And I specifically mentioned businesses who need it for compatibility. So... I'm glad we agree?

 

[LTC8K6]

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/store/windows-app-data-trends

 

[richierich1212]

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/store/windows-app-data-trends

Wow look at all the people still using 720p ....

*looks at laptop and remembers he is running 720p*

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, but Win10 is clearly very popular and it has a good lead in the USA among general users and a huge lead among gamers.

 

[thehoj]

I totally called that in some other Zen thread.

A big lol if you think Intel won't cave in and end up supporting KBL anyway in Win7. Win10 is the red-headed stepchild that businesses wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole even if MS gave it for free.

While I do agree that it makes good sense to continue to support Win 7, I don't really get the Win 10 hate.. I love Windows 10, and experience zero issues using it.. When I sit down at a Win 7 box now it just feels so dated to me.

Also, from a business perspective, I think you're wrong about Win 10 adoption.. I work in IT for a decently sized company (9000 employees), and all new systems that go out get Win 10 Enterprise with the built in Bitlocker full disk encryption. We haven't had any issues with user adoption or compatibility.

 

[Atari2600]

Still nobody cares,anybody who buys ryzen or kaby for mainstream usage (gaming) will want to have dx12 (and gamemode...lol)working so they will go for win10,win 7 will still work if someone needs it for whatever reasons, MS is just not going to release any patches for either system (ryzen or kaby)

"Still nobody cares". Grow up child. Or you'll be in danger of nobody caring about your particularly shortsighted view of the world!


In the professional environment, systems require extensive validation of the entire software stack before being considered fit for use. Many engineering organisations have only finally migrated to Windows 7 2-3 years ago, with several paying MS to continue to support XP with private patches far beyond the end of public support date. They will not be moving to Win10 any time soon.

That is a market that will be buying thousands of Opteron and Xeon implementations of Zen or KL -- where margins are far better for AMD and Intel. Either party would be utterly foolish not to support this market.