Alongside in the present day’s launch of their new Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.6.1 driver – the primary to carry help for FidelityFX Super Resolution tech – AMD can be utilizing this chance to wash home on supported graphics merchandise. As introduced in a brand new weblog submit and efficient instantly, AMD is transferring all of its 1st, 2nd, and threerd technology Graphics Core Next (GCN) based mostly GPUs and APUs to legacy standing. As a consequence, pre-RX 400 sequence video playing cards and pre-Ryzen APUs are now not supported by AMD’s present drivers, and AMD’s earlier 21.5.2 driver set would be the closing launch for these merchandise. 21.5.2 can even be the ultimate driver that helps Windows 7, as AMD can be utilizing this chance to drop help for that already-retired OS.
This week’s change in help marks the primary time since 2015 that AMD has moved any video {hardware} to legacy help. At the time, the corporate retired its pre-GCN {hardware}, leaving AMD’s GCN-based Radeon HD 7000 sequence and newer merchandise as their help baseline. And, after almost 10 years of help for the oldest items of GCN {hardware} – the then-revolutionary Radeon HD 7970 was launched on the very begin of 2012 – AMD is lastly winding down help for the primary couple of waves of GCN {hardware}.
First launched in 2011, GCN was a significant overhaul of AMD’s graphics structure, transferring from an ILP-centric design to a extra fashionable and compute-friendly TLP-centric design. GCN itself has since been supplanted by the RDNA household, however lots of the fundamental design ideas of GCN are nonetheless alive in the present day in AMD’s enterprise compute-focused CDNA structure.
As for this week’s product help modifications, AMD is basically retiring all graphics {hardware} – GPU and APU – that pre-dates 2016’s Polaris (GCN 4) structure. Consequently, AMD’s prolonged legacy record consists of the Radeon 7000 and 8000 sequence, in addition to the 200, 300, and Fury sequence. Even just a few items of mobile-focused M400 {hardware} are on there, since these low-end components have been based mostly on older GCN chips. Overall, this marks a roughly 5-year span of {hardware} being retired this week, with the youngest components simply turning 5.
On the APU entrance, the legacy record consists of a number of of AMD’s well-liked pre-Ryzen APUs, together with Bristol Ridge, Carrizo, and Kaveri, which have been predominantly bought beneath the AMD A-series moniker (e.g. A10-9700). It’s price noting that the ensuing help window for these merchandise does find yourself being a bit shorter than the discrete GPUs, since AMD didn’t launch their first Ryzen + Vega APUs till 2018.
| The Dearly Departed | |||
| Desktop | Mobile | ||
| AMD A-Series APUs with Radeon R4, R5, R6, or R7 Graphics | AMD A-Series PRO processors with Radeon Graphics | ||
| AMD Pro A-Series APUs with Radeon R5 or R7 Graphics | AMD FX-Series APUs with Radeon R7 Graphics | ||
| AMD Athlon Series APUs with Radeon R3 Graphics | AMD E-Series APUs with Radeon R2 Graphics | ||
| AMD Sempron Series APUs with Radeon R3 Graphics | AMD Radeon R7 M400 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R9 Fury Series, R9 Nano Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R9 M300 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R9 300 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R7 M300 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R9 200 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R5 M300 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R7 300 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R9 M200 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R7 200 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R7 M200 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R5 300 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon R5 M200 Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon R5 200 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 8500M – HD 8900M Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon HD 8500 – HD 8900 Series Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 7700M – HD 7900M Series Graphics | ||
| AMD Radeon HD 7700 – HD 7900 Series Graphics | |||
As issues stand, I’m not stunned to…
