AMD’s upcoming Ryzen processors are expected to be up to 40 percent faster than the company’s previous chips, giving Intel’s high-end desktop processors a run for their money.

And, as we reported earlier this month, an article fom German site ComputerBase suggested AMD processors might also offer something Intel’s latest chips don’t: official support for Windows 7.

But now AMD says that’s not true. PC World reports that the company did test its Ryzen chips with the older version of Windows, AMD only plans to release and support drivers for Windows 10.

That’s consistent with reports from last year that said both AMD’s Zen chips and Intel’s Kaby Lake processors would only officially support Windows 10.

While a growing number of Windows users are running the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, about 39 percent of users were still running Windows 7 in November, according to Microsoft’s own numbers, even though mainstream support for the operating system ended in 2015.

Microsoft does plan to continue offering extended support for Windows 7 for three more years, but most new PCs are sold with Windows 10 pre-loaded, which means the people most affected by the lack of official support for Windows 7 will be folks who either want to build their own computers or downgrade the OS on a pre-built system.

The first AMD Ryzen chips are expected to ship in March.

Note: We’ve updated our original article, as has ComputerBase.

 

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31 replies on “Update: AMD Ryzen chips won’t support Windows 7 after all”

  1. FUCK windows 10.. what a peice of shit OS.. I am so tired of fighting it to make it work. twice i have been stuck in a boot loop.. on a pc repair job, then last night i couldnt even install nvidia drivers in custom mode, only express would work .. FUCK 10! I hate it.. I am going back to windows 7 for my gaming .. and if AMD wont support windows 7.. then FUCK AMD , guess i will no longer by AMD which i have done since 1992. One way or the other My gaming rig goes back to 7.. even if that means i switch to Intel

  2. That’s just horrible.
    Worst of bad news.
    SO many customers use Win7 (and some even XP) now it’s a real crotch-hit.

  3. This article is wrong. Ryzen does support Windows 7. Windows 7 driver are available for Ryzan/AM4 motherboard on Gigabyte’s website right now.

  4. OH REALLY? https://www.gigabyte.co.nz/Moth

    Gigabyte DOES offer Windows 7 support for their Ryzen motherboards.

    Do not lose hope guys, motherboard manufacturers will probably release their Windows 7 drivers later, it’s just that the priority is Windows 10 for release day and that’s understandable.

  5. Enter virtual machines, just like Windows 7 came with “XP mode” at first.

  6. Where are these new AMD processors? they seem to be taking forever to reach the market.

  7. This is false, Windows 7 will still work but some newer features of the processors might not work on it, but fan drivers for those will arrive eventually.

  8. Lost opportunity. AMD would have had a couple of years to make money in an area where Intel wasn’t playing. There are STILL plenty of people who refuse to use Windows10. Regardless of the reasons, AMD should have exploited this market.

    1. Spending resource on an operating system from 8-years old isn’t helpful.

      1. If a reasonable amount of people are still using windows 7 (which happens to be true) then there is still reason to support it.

        1. You are talking people using old PCs.

          Most people buying PCs would be getting them with Windows 10 anyway.

      2. DUDE?!?

        You work for Microsoft don’t you? This is the third site that uses Disqus I’ve been too on this subject and your on everyone defending it. Either that or you really need to get a life. lol

    2. Partially true but Windows 7 doesn’t take full advantage of modern processors like better multi processor use and native graphics acceleration.

  9. Well, that’s a bummer.

    There’s little to no reason to get any AMD chips from the low-end to the high-end today. They simply suck at Single-Core performance and even their Multi-core performance is meh. Whereas even an old Intel Core i7-3770K (4.5GHz OC) is plenty efficient and fast by current standards…….and it’ll happily run Windows 7.

    So for anyone wanting a good Windows 7 PC, they’re basically limited to Intel.
    As each day approaches, I’m getting more and more skeptical about RyZen. I’m starting to think it will be around the efficiency and performance halfway between Haswell and Skylake. Or to be more specific, the talked about midrange 3.4GHz+ 4 core/4-8thread RyZen chip will probably run somewhere around the 4GHz-4670K to the 4GHz-6600K in terms of both power and efficiency (and temperatures).

    So if you want the best efficiency or performance, you would go Skylake or Kaby Lake.
    If you want the best value, you would probably go Ivy Bridge or Haswell.
    The AMD RyZen chips could offer a good balance between value and performance, but not both.
    Only Intel would seem to offer that. That’s if my hunch is right, based on all these colluding reports that are leaking out there.

    1. lol. Sorry, I disagree on most of what you say and there are plenty of people who would rather go AMD than overpriced Intel!

      1. You’re wrong.

        I would rather pay AMD and keep the market more competitive.
        But from all the leaks/reports we are getting about the RyZen chips:
        – won’t be as cheap as some people had hoped
        – won’t be as power efficient as some people had hoped
        – won’t be as fast/performance as some people had hoped.

        If they (very likely) pan out, you would be better served with a Core i5-6600K (or better) in terms of performance. Or you would be better served with a Core i7-3770K in terms of bang for buck (trust me these chips are awesome, and go for dirt cheap).

  10. It makes you think about what M$ held over their heads to drop Win 7 support?

    1. Or maybe AMD would rather spend valuable resources optimizing Ryzen for the operating system most people will use it on, Windows 10.

    2. I personally think to most general consumers looks at a laptop listed as Windows 7 on the shelf would think it is more antiquated as opposed to Windows 10.
      And they probably can’t tell the difference between a i7 5 years back and an current gen i7, much less an AMD Ryzen.
      In terms of marketing i think Windows 10 should be the way to go unless they want the enterprise market which is hard to get into.

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