ATI Reduces Support for Older Graphics Cards


  1. Posts : 18,404
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #1

    ATI Reduces Support for Older Graphics Cards


    As time goes on and a product catalog grows, it's not unusual for a company to reduce and eventually eliminate support for older products. In the case of ATI, AMD's graphics division, a new decision to reduce support for older graphics chips is about to take effect. To date, ATI has provided a new WHQL certified driver every month to nearly every graphics card capable of DirectX 9 acceleration. That includes cards all the way back to 2002's Radeon 9700 Pro. After this month's Catalyst 9.3 release, that will not be the case.
    After Catalyst 9.3, products prior to the R6xx generation of graphics cards (that go by the Radeon HD 2000 series brand names) will be changed to "legacy support status." This means that these products will get quarterly WHQL driver updates, instead of monthly updates. AMD assures us that these products will still receive critical "hotfix" drivers if high-priority fixes are needed.
    more: ExtremeTech
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  2. Posts : 675
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 x64 Windows 8 Enterprise RTM x64
       #2

    Oh i hate you ATi!

    New card for me then...

    It says "After Catalyst 9.3" does this mean 9.3 will support them?
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  3. Posts : 18,404
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Yeah, I believe so. It's 9.4 that won't...
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  4. Posts : 675
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 x64 Windows 8 Enterprise RTM x64
       #4

    Ah this may be ok for me for a while longer then.

    I have been looking at a new card though radeon HD 3650 but an AGP versions, im dubious to how this will work on 7 as it already requires hotfixed drivers for the agp version...

    Right now i am using just the win update drivers, i have not tried the vista 9.2 drivers and the pre-release win 7 dirvers offer no support for my card..

    Any thoughts on this?
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  5. Posts : 3
    Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
       #5

    Cute, that just put the screws to my year-old Gateway M-6862 with a HD-2600.

    Guess next time I will to with Nvidia.
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  6. Posts : 12,364
    8 Pro x64
       #6

    Why? Nvidia drop support for older cards too. Although admittedly their legacy support goes further.

    Personally I'd rather see them spend more time focusing on improving current cards than supporting older ones. It would be a different story if I was affected though
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  7. Posts : 51
    Vista Enterprise x64 SP1
       #7

    Out with the old, in with the new!
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