If you are still running Windows 7, 8.1 or god forbid Vista or XP, do not expect AMD's upcoming Ryzen CPUs to work well with them. Or work at all in fact, as AMD is only supporting the latest version of Windows 10 with its new hardware.
While there is always the hope that some third party or enterprising programmer will release some driver to support the new processors on Windows 7 or elsewhere, there will not be any official support coming from AMD, according to .
"To achieve the highest confidence in the performance of our AMD Ryzen desktop processors (formerly code-named ‘Summit Ridge’), AMD validated them across two different OS generations, Windows 7 and 10," AMD said in a statement. "However, only support and drivers for Windows 10 will be provided in AMD Ryzen desktop processor production parts."
This is a position it has held for some time and Intel has said the same of its Kaby Lake hardware - they are ditching the operating systems of the past and moving forward with something new. But that's not fun for those who are still sitting on Windows 7 or earlier.
This could shoot AMD in the foot though, as while Windows 10 is the most popular OS in the world for desktop systems, Windows 7 still has a strong foothold, especially among enthusiasts and gamers and there are a few Windows 8 hold-outs too.
The fact that none of them will be buying Ryzen without first getting a new operating system too, could mean that AMD misses out on sales.
What operating system are you guys running?
