Question How Well do Windows 7 Drivers Work for Windows 8.1 for AMD Graphics Cards

[ZorakXT]

I just purchased 2 RX Vega 64s the other day and just found out that AMD no longer supports Windows 8.1 driver wise. I called them up and they suggested that I use the Windows 7 drivers. Has anyone had any experience on how well they perform on Windows 8.1? Should I just try to return the cards and go back to NVIDIA? I still have my 2 GTX 980s.

 

[jimmysmitty]

So I just double checked because I find t odd that they would kill support for 8.1 and not 7 when 7 has EOL next month. And you are right. There are no official drivers from AMD for the RX Vegas series of GPUs listed for 8.1.

Hell I even checked the 5700XT, their newest card, and it doesn't have 81 drivers.

My suggestion would be to move on from 8.1 but I know thats not always possible for some people so if you are unable to migrate to 10 then nVidia would be a better option if you go to anything before the RTX 20 series, as those look to only support 7 and 10 as well.

Its odd. Honestly the best solution would be upgrading to 10. If you have a legitimate 8.1 key you can still upgrade to 10 for free.

 

[ZorakXT]

So I just double checked because I find t odd that they would kill support for 8.1 and not 7 when 7 has EOL next month. And you are right. There are no official drivers from AMD for the RX Vegas series of GPUs listed for 8.1.

Hell I even checked the 5700XT, their newest card, and it doesn't have 81 drivers.

My suggestion would be to move on from 8.1 but I know thats not always possible for some people so if you are unable to migrate to 10 then nVidia would be a better option if you go to anything before the RTX 20 series, as those look to only support 7 and 10 as well.

Its odd. Honestly the best solution would be upgrading to 10. If you have a legitimate 8.1 key you can still upgrade to 10 for free.

Thanks, I understand that it would be easier to update to Windows 10, but all the horror stories about not being able to control updates, and the backdoors, keylogging, and spying make it not worth it for me. Unless there are ways to block all that from happening? In addition I really like the Windows 7 look (using ClassicShell) and feel.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Thanks, I understand that it would be easier to update to Windows 10, but all the horror stories about not being able to control updates, and the backdoors, keylogging, and spying make it not worth it for me. Unless there are ways to block all that from happening? In addition I really like the Windows 7 look (using ClassicShell) and feel.

Classic shell supports W10 aswell.

As for security. Select no to all of the telemetry options when installing W10. Then I run W10 Debloater which can completely disable the security problems.

Auto updates arent much of an issue tbh.

 

[jimmysmitty]

You can turn off a lot of the telemetry stuff Windows 10 does. Its not as big a deal and a lot of people blow it well over. For example you can delay updates for a year although its best to not as they do tend to patch bugs, holes and issues.

Should You Disable Windows 10 Telemetry? - Smart Buyer

(Updated Oct. 9, 2018) - The gathering of Windows 10 telemetry is an issue for privacy-minded users that don't want their data online. But what is really sent and does it matter?

www.neweggbusiness.com

 

[NightHawkRMX]

. Its not as big a deal and a lot of people blow it well over.

I kind of disagree. With all of the settings left to their default "reccomended" setting, memory dumps are sent to MS. I dont want my ram contents being sent anywhere.