AMD chops support for many CPU's andGPU's

Irish Steve

A warning to anyone considering an AMD upgrade, look VERY carefully at the device you are considering, as an announcement in recent days from AMD has made it clear that they are stopping all future updates or fixes for many of the user level CPU's and GPU's that are used in both desktop and laptop systems, and some of those systems are relatively recent, I have a Lenovo machine here that's not yet 3 years old, but it is no longer going to be supported by AMD.

For me, that's the end of my usage of AMD products, I deem it completely unacceptable to end of life a computer that's less than 3 years old.

I hope this decision will well and truly hurt AMD big time, they don't deserve any customer loyalty or support when they act in this manner, and I for one will not be buying anything with an AMD label on it in future.

Simi

While I'll agree ending support of a mobile product from 3 years ago is harsh, it's highly unlikely that any specific optimisations would have have been made for your APU even if it was still supported by the latest drivers.

Going to legacy does not mean your laptop will cease to function or you won't be able to play any new games. It simply means that if a future game doesn't work it won't be fixed.

The latest desktop GPUs affected by this are from 2016, quite old by GPU standards. I know the R9 390 can still hold its own at 1080p, it hasn't received any significant driver optimizations since Radeon image sharpening was added.

There are two reasons for this announcement, AMD want to draw a line in the sand for FSR support and Nvidia making a similar announcement just the other day https://www.pcgamer.com/amp/its-official-nvidia-will-end-geforce-gtx-600700-series-support-in-october/

Irish Steve

If this was a 10 year old chip, I could understand it, but it was still being sold by main line retail 12 months ago, albeit with a slightly different memory and disc package, I'd be even more hacked off if it was only just out of warranty and being chopped by the supplier. Nvidia are end of lifing much older technology than has been chopped by AMD

I don't play games on this machine, it's not powerful enough for most games, it's a day to day workhorse, and my main concern is that it will only take a botched update from Microsoft to Windows10, and it will become either unstable or worse unusable, and AMD won't fix it, there's more than just a GPU involved here, there's the CPU, audio and a number of other areas as well.

Microsoft screwed up several updates over the last 12 months that affected this machine, in areas like bluetooth and WiFi, and it took for ever for the relevant manufacturers to sort out what had been broken, I'm going to be considerably less than happy if as a result of Microsoft breaking Win 10 again, which is almost guaranteed at this stage, I can't then keep the machine up to date with critical security patches and the like because AMD are no longer fixing problems.

Unlike a desktop, I can't just go out and get a replacement video card, and throw it in, which will resolve the problem, effectively, in some circumstances, the laptop is scrap, and has zero value, that's not exactly endearing me to AMD right now, a laptop should be good for more than 3 years use, especially given the ongoing supply issues with the shortage of chips across the industry, this smacks to me of blatant opportunistic gouging by AMD, and I for one intend to vote with my feet, permanently.

I have been a long term supporter and user of AMD for a very long time, because for most of that time, their products were competitive when compared to the equivalent Intel products, and their graphics cards have also been reasonable as well, and although the Mach32 was originally an ATI product, it was taken over by AMD a long time ago, and supported for a lot longer than is apparently now the case.

It seems that a reasonable and equitable policy has well and truly ended.

Even more damning is that an E-mail to their support organisation was returned undeliverable due to a full mail box. That tells me a lot about where AMD are right now in terms of user support, and it leaves me with no real alternative other than to jump ship while I can control the manner and cost of doing so. Being forced to change after the machine is bricked by a botched update is not a comfortable or viable option.

pioneerpro

Irish Steve wrote: »

I don't play games on this machine, it's not powerful enough for most games, it's a day to day workhorse, and my main concern is that it will only take a botched update from Microsoft to Windows10, and it will become either unstable or worse unusable, and AMD won't fix it, there's more than just a GPU involved here, there's the CPU, audio and a number of other areas as well.

Hold your horses for a second.

Why are you conflating 3rd party driver support with microcode and firmware updates?

You do realise that the 'updates' for Intel microcode over the past 4 years effectively crippled performance to address issues that are vanishingly unlikely to ever impact the end user?

Unlike a desktop, I can't just go out and get a replacement video card, and throw it in, which will resolve the problem, effectively, in some circumstances, the laptop is scrap, and has zero value,

In what hypothetical scenario do you envisage that a GPU firmware or microcode issue is going to brick your GPU and/or laptop?

Irish Steve

In circumstances like an update from Microsoft that effectively prevented more than one device from communicating with Bluetooth, or another update from Microsoft that crippled the WiFi, and required an update from the chip vendor to resolve it, to name but two possible issues.

AMD are chopping all updates from certain chip sets, and that affects the CPU, the GPU, and on this machine, things like audio, bluetooth, WiFi, and perhaps most critical, USB drivers. I have seen plenty of issues over the last couple of years where fundamental errors by Microsoft when updating Win10 have resulted in some or all of these peripherals becoming unusable, or unstable, and if as is supposedly the case, AMD have now withdrawn support from these devices, that means an issue with a botched update by Microsoft has the potential to make this machine unusable, as the affected devices can't be swapped out and replaced in the same way as on a desktop machine.

This machine is a Lenovo 330, and was first used in October 2018, so some way off 3 years old, and similar Lenovo machines were still being sold new by (among others ) Harvey Norman within the last 18 months, I priced one for a friend about 3 months after Covid made home working more essential.

It's not firmware or microcode that's the issue, it's the software drivers that are updated on a regular basis that is the issue, as too often, those driver updates are being made to resolve issues that are being caused by core programming issues within Windows software.

This is nothing to do with Intel microcode, as that's irrelevant where AMD devices are concerned, this is related to drivers that ensure the operation of the hardware, and they are very much a moving feast as a result of constant changes being made by Microsoft to the core operating system.

Simi

I'm sorry the APU for your laptop was (likely) released in 2016. 5 years is a reasonable support timeframe. I realise your laptop was probably manufactured much later, but the laptop manufacturer chose to use old hardware.

Bad Windows 10 updates are not AMD's fault or responsibility to fix, they're Microsoft's. It's highly unlikely that were such a problem to occur in the future it would have been solved with an AMD driver update. It would be fixed with another Windows update.

Yes Nvidia is continuing to support Maxwell graphics cards, but that's only because of the massive amounts of 750ti's and 970's still in use by eSports gamers. If they cut them off there'd be uproar. The reaction to AMD's announcement has been fairly muted. There simply aren't that many people affected. You're unfortunately one of the unlucky few.

pioneerpro

Irish Steve wrote: »

AMD are chopping all updates from certain chip sets, and that affects the CPU, the GPU, and on this machine, things like audio, bluetooth, WiFi, and perhaps most critical, USB drivers...

USB and audio standards like AC'97 are 3PPs designated by standards bodies.

Most of what you're talking about is the responsibility of the Qualcomm, Realtek, and all the other COTS and OEM SoC providers, not AMD, in most cases.

Can't speak for the Lenovo 330 platform in particular, so open to minor correction here, but this is beginning to sound like hyperbole.

It's not firmware or microcode that's the issue, it's the software drivers that are updated on a regular basis that is the issue, as too often, those driver updates are being made to resolve issues that are being caused by core programming issues within Windows software.

Again, is this Lenovo or AMD?

Also, you know, Vulkan etc... in relation to actual GPUs.

Irish Steve

Simi wrote: »

The reaction to AMD's announcement has been fairly muted. There simply aren't that many people affected. You're unfortunately one of the unlucky few.

Probably because it's only happened today, with the release of the new driver, which was notified by E-mail, it only became apparent when the new driver didn't install the latest driver that the E-mail mentioned.

AMD have made a monumental balls of this release, they know what chip set the hardware here is using, so they should never have sent me a notification of a new driver, as it won't work on this hardware, as I discovered when I downloaded it, and only then did I find the relevant blog, which states that with the release of the new driver, the status of a whole load of chip sets has been pushed into legacy support status.

The previous driver was released less than a month ago, and no mention was made in the notes at that time that there would be no more updates for a whole range of devices.

On July 21, AMD stated

Effective as of June 21, 2021, Radeon Software support for Windows 7 based operating systems have been moved to a legacy support model. Official end of support from Microsoft for Windows 7 was January 14th, 2020.
The final supported driver release for Windows 7 64-bit operating systems is Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.5.2. More information on this software release can be found in Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 21.5.2 Release Notes | AMD. This driver is provided as the last and final Windows 7 64-bit supported Radeon Software release and will not be supported with further updates, upgrades, or bug fixes.
Users passionate about gaming and wishing to continue receiving the benefits of Radeon Software features and performance updates may wish to consider upgrading to a Windows® 10 64-bit based operating system.
Windows 32-Bit Support

AMD Radeon Software support for Microsoft 32-bit Windows operating systems was moved to a legacy support model on October 1st, 2018. No additional driver releases supporting 32-bit Windows operating systems are planned.
The final supported driver release for 32-bit Windows operating systems is AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.9.3. More information on this software release can be found in its release notes. This driver is provided as the last and final 32-bit Windows supported Radeon Software release and will not be supported with further updates, upgrades, or bug fixes.
For users looking for a more recent WHQL certified driver, the latest Radeon Software will continue to be available for Windows 10 64-bit operating systems.

I have bolded that last sentence, as it seems that the left hand and the right hand don't know what the policy actually is, in that as well as all the specific changes mentioned here, support for 64-bit Windows 10 is NOT being provided, as 21.6.2, also released today, does NOT contain 64 Bit drivers for a whole range of processors.

That's what has me ticking, this change has clearly been thrown out with NO warning or previous notification to the users, it's happend as a fait accompli without any previous indication that it was coming.

Fair enough to chop Win 7 support, and to chop 32 bit support, they are both old or out of date and possibly unsupported versions, but 64Bit Win10 is very much a moveable feast, with updates and fixes happening almost daily.