AMD to Drop Support for Pre-HD 5000 GPUs

apoppin · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:48 am

No. But there are still people with them - as with CorCentral - who are using the 4000 series in second PCs - who still play *current* DX9/DX10 games.
- it is not like MS dropping support for crap WinME. HD 4000 is quite popular and those with a HD 4870-X2 or CrossFire are still able to play DX10 games near max settings. HD 4870-X2 is almost as powerful as HD 5870/HD 6950/HD 7850.

Can you imagine what EYERYONE would say if Nvidia dropped support for GTX 280?

It's a bad move and there is no justification for it other than AMD is saving money for themselves. It's called screwing their own customers and it does not look good for FUTURE support..

grstanford · **Joined:** Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:19 am **Posts:** 4978

I was going to mention x800 owners in my previous post, but thought I'd better not rub it in too hard...

Of course there is a distinct possibility that there is hardly anybody left at AMD now who knows these older architectures well enough to write drivers for them....

SirPauly · **Joined:** Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:56 pm **Posts:** 803

It just proves the philosophy of the two companies if one looks at the GTX 2XX series and the HD 4XXX series: nVidia added multi-monitor support, 3d vision, GPU PhysX, adaptive V-sync, FXAA, probably TXAA and SGSSAA , frame-limiters and still continuing to support strongly with developer relations and over-all support for their older hardware.

apoppin · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:10 am

Huh? What are you saying?

What ARE the philosophy differences between them?

jaydip · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:19 am

apoppin wrote:

jaydip wrote:

apoppin wrote:

Personally i think it is a bad move on AMD's part to drop support for HD 4000 series. It was introduced 3-1/2 years old - some of the cards are barely out of warranty now.

So that means that the HD 7970 you bought in December will likely not be supported by AMD in the 2014-2015 time frame. What are they thinking?
:think:

I honestly think its not a big deal.Its not like that that your cards are not going run without 12.7 catalyst driver.Feature wise i'm not sure what the new drivers will bring in for AMD so the future may not be as bleak as it is portrayed :grin:

At the same time i hope that they deliver hot fixes whenever necessary.

This is the second time that AMD has done this. The updates will last less than a year if they follow the pattern (i think it was x800 series owners that got screwed).

It's a bad precedent and the only reason that AMD does it is to save money for themselves - they are not thinking of their customers. It appears that they can justify anything
:hello:

Your HD 7970 may have support dropped for it in 3 years.
:think:

I understand your point.But we gamers typically upgrade in 12-15months so its not such a big deal.But for other customers it can create problems and as u pointed out some of us use older cards in different systems making this a deal breaker for many.

SirPauly · **Joined:** Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:56 pm **Posts:** 803

Look at the steam data to give some insight on owners of existing hardware:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

There is a great deal of older hardware still out there -------from 9800 GT's to GTX 260's and nice to see support for them and improved gaming experience potential for them.

apoppin · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:38 am

When we say "we gamers", we are referring to us, the top 5% of gamers. AMD has lost sight of their community in many ways. This is an awful thing to do to gamers who don't upgrade often. DX10/9 games are popular and a lot of indie devs don't use DX11.

It might make sense to AMD in the short term, but it can be very bad for them in the long term.
-- of course, the other forum thinks it is wonderful - that they can devote more resources to new games.

But that means when the gamers are going to finally *forced* by lack of driver support to upgrade, it may be to AMD's competitor.

grstanford · **Joined:** Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:19 am **Posts:** 4978

apoppin wrote:

Huh? What are you saying?

What ARE the philosophy differences between them?

Easy. AMD want to forcibly obsolete their old cards to try and force you into upgrading to their latest series. nvidia supports their old cards for as long as possible and adds newer features to them where possible.

and the FanATIcs have the nerve to call nvidia greedy and money grubbing.......... Doubly amusing after 7970............. :lol:

apoppin · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:19 pm

It says to me that AMD is broke
- they are cutting services. Whether intentional or not, it is an awful thing for their customers

Samsung is the same way regarding their phones. You never expect an update from them
:*

jaydip · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:23 pm

The last part was so true regarding Samsung:D

AMD to Drop Support for Pre-HD 5000 GPUs

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