AMD Retires Legacy GPUs, GCN Only Going Forward

News
By Kevin Carbotte
published

AMD is making some big changes in its graphics business. First it created the Radeon Technologies Group and appointed Raja Koduri as senior vice president and chief architect of the group, and then earlier today, the company launched the first iteration of the Radeon Software Crimson driver package. Radeon Software Crimson has received much media attention, but another announcement was made by AMD today that likely affects more than a few of our readers.

AMD announced that it has discontinued support for legacy GPUs that pre-date the company's switch to Graphics Core Next technology. The last driver for non-GCN GPUs has been released, and the company will not be dedicating any more resources on these legacy devices. Instead, AMD will be shifting its efforts entirely towards developing new features for GCN cores and enhancing existing features.

The affected products include AMD Radeon HD 8400 and lower 8000-series cards, and Radeon HD 7600 and below. The entire line of Radeon HD 5000 and HD 6000 cards have also been added to the legacy support list.

AMD said that it has released an "As is" beta version of Radeon Software Crimson that will work with these cards, but there will be no further updates for this driver. AMD said the Crimson Beta was released as a courtesy to its valued customers so they can use the new interface, but the last WHQL driver for these products is Catalyst Software Suite 15.7.1, which was released in late July, and there won't be any further updates to the Crimson beta for legacy hardware.

The beta version of Radeon Software Crimson that supports the HD 5000 series and up is available from AMD's website.

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Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

78 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Ryguy64
    Maybe it is time to replace my HD 6870. I probably need to replace my i3 2120 as well. Too bad I don't really do anything with my computer that needs more than that.
    Reply
  • Josh5890
    Well now it really looks like it is time for me to update my 6970
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    Maybe it is time to replace my HD 6870. I probably need to replace my i3 2120 as well. Too bad I don't really do anything with my computer that needs more than that.

    If you upgrade, you'll save a lot of power. ;)
    Reply
  • Sakkura
    I think they should have kept up support until next year, when 16/14nm GPUs arrive. Would have been a natural time to close the book on the old 40nm hardware. As it is, the 5000/6000 series cards are not entirely obsolete.

    But okay, AMD probably has to strictly prioritize its resources.
    Reply
  • troger5troger5
    sigh --_-- so it looks like the last amd cards I have now have no support................................. 6970 crossfire that still works great for 1080p
    Reply
  • Achoo22
    Maybe it is time to replace my HD 6870. I probably need to replace my i3 2120 as well. Too bad I don't really do anything with my computer that needs more than that.
    You can absolutely be forgiven for the delay. They haven't really released compelling price/performance upgrades for your board. The same $170 that bought a 6870 can finally buy a rebranded 7850/7870. Upgrade, yes. Something to get excited about? No.
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    17006681 said:
    Maybe it is time to replace my HD 6870. I probably need to replace my i3 2120 as well. Too bad I don't really do anything with my computer that needs more than that.

    If you upgrade, you'll save a lot of power. ;)

    It would take years, even more than a decade to save in power what money is accounted for the purchase of a new graphics card. I did calculations of similar stuff a while back comparing Nvidia and AMD cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2833574/electric-bill-amd-nvidia-mathematics-calculated.html
    Reply
  • dimar
    It starts in 1ms, but I think vertical switches would be nicer than drop down boxes.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    17006723 said:
    I think they should have kept up support until next year, when 16/14nm GPUs arrive. Would have been a natural time to close the book on the old 40nm hardware. As it is, the 5000/6000 series cards are not entirely obsolete.
    I agree. Between the HD5770 and R7-250, the performance difference is minuscule considering the four years age difference. It would be easier to see support for older chips go if they were clearly outclassed by modern equivalents but here, we are still roughly in the same performance class.

    Not that it makes too much of a difference in my case since I was already not bothering with upgrading graphics driver more than once or twice a year and I was planning to get a 2GB 15nm GPU to replace my 1GB HD5770 next year anyway.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    today my 4870 died! :( iam very sad. used a old trio64 to see the dead card on ruinwindows good old days never come back!
    Reply