BROADWELL E is Around the Corner and I am Concerned

Does anyone have any information on this and is there any truth to the rumor that Broadwell E won't be supporting operating systems older than Windows 10? I've read a few articles and they're clear as mud about the subject. Will I even be able to use Windows 7 with the new X99 chipset that will be coming with the new Broadwell E 2011-3 platform? I mean Windows 10 is fine for those who like that sort of thing but personally I am averse to all the garbage I would have to disable (without any assurance it would stay disabled) and the whole "FREE" concept Windows Keylogger Edition offers its users. I have already tried Windows 10 and I don't like it one bit. I'm currently running Win 7 Ultimate and Win 8.1 in dual boot and I still have to say that I prefer Windows 7. What would be the point in forking out for all this new hardware only to discover I can't even run a decent o/s on it? Am I up a stump?

Well I did see mention that it will only support 10 and also that manufacturers like Asus will be making products only supporting 10.

I am not sure where I saw this but it seems to me to be the way things are going now.

My concern is that all others that came before will become so expensive or not available ie Ivy Bridge stuff that the systems we have now - quite adequate for what I and I suspect a lot of other folks use will become defunct as and when the parts become so scarce and the OS's not support them.

This raises a good question as a matter of fact - will the new gear support Linux systems??

Still x99 so I doubt it will be any different than other cpu's for that board series.

Being an Asus fanboy I'm really starting to feel let down and I certainly feel for my comrades in the Ivy Bridge sector. I held off buying anything in those generations and stayed with my old Bloomfield i920 for the longest time before moving on to Haswell. The old X58 is still running true and fast but I'd like to pass this Sabertooth build on to the wife and get my work station up and running this year. The thing is Windows 10 on a work station strikes me as a bit of an oxymoron if not a recipe for disaster. It's almost as though both Intel and Microsoft are forcing me to go Linux and that, my friend, is a concern equal to the first -- if I may take the liberty to say so. I won't be asking for advice on Linux in a Windows 7 forum but it is starting to look like I'm running out of options. I plan on hanging onto Windows 7 'til the bitter end unless Microsoft encounters a miraculous brain transplant and develops another real o/s for a change.

Still x99 so I doubt it will be any different than other cpu's for that board series.

Thanks Mike I wasn't sure but I have read that this will eventually happen with component makers

If it does the os compatibility listings will be offered on the details list of the cpu's in question.

ICIT2LOL said:

Still x99 so I doubt it will be any different than other cpu's for that board series.

Thanks Mike I wasn't sure but I have read that this will eventually happen with component makers

Yes, I read it too and they're being very wishy-washy about it... Almost as though they know if they told us the truth they'd be facing a lot of angry clientele. Intel was among the first to go public with it and frankly, I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase of a new E chip and motherboard if I can't run Windows 7 on it and still get support for it from both Microsoft and Intel. There have been some signs of back pedaling as far as Skylake is concerned but it's the X series that was designed for Work Stations so this isn't much consolation for those who want to keep using Windows 7 on the X99 platform. Perhaps even less consolation for those who want to use X99E.

SCANNERMAN777 said:

Being an Asus fanboy I'm really starting to feel let down...

Let down is the extremely polite term for how I feel about Asus lately. The stunt that Intel and MS pulled with Skylake (requiring users that had already gotten their systems to upgrade to Win 10 to continue to receive full support) also has me nervous about Broadwell-e. Something else that has me upset with Asus is their X99-E WS/USB 3.1 MOBO was in production for only a short time and has apparently been discontinued but Asus doesn't have the decency to admit it. Getting their customer "service" to admit it has been impossible; either they give me an incredibly vague answer, essentially saying they don't know, or they just ignore me.

ThrashZone said:

If it does the os compatibility listings will be offered on the details list of the cpu's in question.

Apparently, that means nothing anymore. Look at Skylake.

I saw as supported os's
Win-10*
Win-8*
Win-7
* meaning really supported
Which M$ has already walked back the statements about not supporting win-7 on skylake
Board manufactures have made special installers to support the installs

The only definition is what does "support" really mean