Kind of an oxy-moron to say "no drivers for Windows 7" and "fully supports Windows 7". The CPU is x86; of course it will run Windows 7. That's why its based on that architecture. I have no doubt AMD (or Intel for that matter) could design something much better than a ~30 year old architecture that has been mutilated over the years, but it isn't within their interest to break backward compatibility. I'm sure even Windows 98 could run on Zen. But to be supported means it is tested and intentionally made to be fully functional. This is why you'll find software that may say "supports Windows 7" but works fine on XP despite it not being supported. The reason is because if you're using XP and something goes wrong, it isn't supported, so the developers can just simply say "you aren't meeting our requirements, so we don't have to help you any further".

Guess thats why they talk about "support", e.g. they don't want to have deal with troubleshooting some 10y old win 7 install running a zen chip, over the phone..

Kind of an oxy-moron to say "no drivers for Windows 7" and "fully supports Windows 7". The CPU is x86; of course it will run Windows 7. That's why its based on that architecture. I have no doubt AMD (or Intel for that matter) could design something much better than a ~30 year old architecture that has been mutilated over the years, but it isn't within their interest to break backward compatibility. I'm sure even Windows 98 could run on Zen. But to be supported means it is tested and intentionally made to be fully functional. This is why you'll find software that may say "supports Windows 7" but works fine on XP despite it not being supported. The reason is because if you're using XP and something goes wrong, it isn't supported, so the developers can just simply say "you aren't meeting our requirements, so we don't have to help you any further".

When AMD talks about "support and drivers for Windows 10" then it does not necessarily mean end-user support. I read that as features supported by the CPU which need to be incorporated in the OS itself, like new instructions which often cannot be handled by a driver. Other features can be added to a driver, usually in more than one (in a so called "class driver", which is a collection of drivers for various subsystems in the SOC). In short, the features which require changes to the OS itself, can only be made by MS. However, if Ryzen is backwards compatible then no "support and drivers" are required for older operating systems and they work just fine. I think that's the message.

I read that as features supported by the CPU which need to be incorporated in the OS itself, like new instructions which often cannot be handled by a driver.

CPU "Instruction Sets" can always be taken advantage of by a program without the need for the OS being "aware" of it; all the CPU's functions are always exposed when "asked" by a program. While the OS itself CAN take advantage of CPU instruction sets, it doesn't need to support those instructions to allow programs to use it. OS "Support" for those instructions usually just means various parts of the OS can call on those instructions and take advantage of it, but unless they program a part of the OS to NOT function without those instructions (making it more a requirement than just "supported") it will always run. Now, if Microsoft somehow plugs in a new update that will make Windows 7 check if a certain function or CPU generation is present then proceed to run worse or not run at all, that'd be outright sabotaging an existing product, and they'll not likely do this. At any rate, previous versions of Windows will always continue to work on newer CPUs as long as nobody REMOVES any instructions and all the OTHER requirements for booting an older OS are met, like being able to use drive interfaces. (You can still install Windows 98 on some newer systems, but there has to be a "bios" either emulated by the UEFI or real, and an IDE mode for SATA ports) Edit: As a simple example: Emulators I run in a Windows 7 test system can take take advantage of AVX2 despite the OS not having been updated to "accommodate" for it. ("support" for it wasn't patched in, the test system is SP1 and an offline system, so no updates)

CPU "Instruction Sets" can always be taken advantage of by a program without the need for the OS being "aware" of it; all the CPU's functions are always exposed when "asked" by a program.

Yes. Intrinsic functions, (inline) assembler code, linkers, etc., will probably support Ryzen sooner or later. However, this article is about the OS. I was limiting my comments to that.

Can't have broken drivers if you don't release them.

Can't have broken drivers if you don't release them.

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