DirectX 12 Will Not Be Supported By Windows 7

DirectX 12 promises both dramatically increased performance in games, thanks to reduced CPU overhead and better support for multithreading, and significantly reduced power consumption, a real boon for owners of gaming laptops. It will of course be built into Windows 10 and compatible with Windows 8 as well, but the news isn't so good for Windows 7 diehards.

[d_g]

R.I.P Windows 7

it was fantastic OS

[SegaGamer]

To me it is the best of the lot and there is no way i am upgrading to Windows 10 any time soon. I can't be bothered with the constant changing. If DirectX 12 won't be coming out on Windows 7 then i will deal with it because there is no chance i am changing my OS, i'm sick of doing it.

[darthv72]

At least until a new graphics card or game comes out that requires DX12...

yeah Sega, been there before. you can only hold out for so long before you just bite the bullet and upgrade. hopefully by that time the bugs are worked out of the OS.

incidentally...windows 8.1 is so much better than 8 and i would even go on a limb and say it rivals 7. Personally my favorite was 98 but game support and graphic driver support gave up on that a long time ago. much like my consoles...i keep a couple of older PC's around for generation specific games that do not work on modern PC's.

Especially my games that support 3dfx GLide.

[radler]

Hahaha, Microsoft are desperate to get people to upgrade from Windows 7. Remember when they used Halo 2 to try to get people to upgrade to the crappy Windows Vista, saying it had DX requirements that the old OS couldn't handle? Didn't take long for people to realize they were lying and patch the game themselves.

Screw Microsoft, I'm sticking with Windows 7.

[xPhearR3dx]

This personally doesn't bother me. I know I'm probably one of the few, but I couldn't stand Windows 7. It wasn't Vista bad, but I much prefer W8 over 7. I know people love the start menu, but I found it to be a very outdated system. I can find and multitask much faster on W8 than I ever could on 7.

[GameNameFame]

Or takes tons of time before dx12 gets adopted.

Not many devs will use dx12 knowing only smallest user base will take advantage of them.

Same thing happened with dx11

[kreate]

The problem here is... If i get a windows 10, the year after a windows 12 will come out.....

Wtf Microsoft...

Most likely will require a yearly subscription. Like what happened to Microsoft office.

[3-4-5]

Windows 8.1 is awesome, not sure why people are afraid to upgrade.

What happened to windows 9 ?

Are they just too cool for that or something ?

Windows 7 was pretty solid though...

[Vegamyster]

7 ate 9.

*ba dum tss*

[Muzikguy]

From what I understand Microsoft is trying to go for a mass appeal and to integrate all aspects into windows (phone, tablet, etc). If they did just a base as 10, they could start using other things to differentiate, sort of like what Apple is doing. Also I heard they want to skip a number to show it's a completely revamped OS. Who knows, this kind of stuff oftentimes makes no sense

[swice]

I think it had to do with something about the coding for windows 98 somewhere….
something about the programmers shortening it to "windows9", or something to that effect, in the coding.

for whatever reason, it would be too much of a headache for them to release the actual windows 9 with the shortened 98 coding in their database. Thus they just went straight to 10

i really don't understand it, but that's what I've heard, very roughly interpreted.

[kevnb]

It was 9x, 95 or 98

[ninjahunter]

Its great, if your not an advanced user. not that it cant be used by advanced users, it just adds some extra clicks that shouldn't be there.

[SegaGamer]

I'm not afraid to upgrade, i'm just fed up with installing a new OS. I have had my current PC since 2009 and i don't think i have gone a year without installing a new OS.

I'm tired of moving all my important files and then moving them back, i'm tired of re-installing things i had on my old computer, i'm tired of running into errors on a new OS when i didn't have those problems on a previous OS. I'm tired of going on the internet looking for solutions to get things to work on a new OS.

It's boring, time consuming and just a massive pain in the ass.

This is why i won't upgrade to Windows 8, i just can't be bothered anymore. It's not worth the hassle.

[kevnb]

I already went out and bought a ps4, I'm not going any further than windows 7. It's osx and console from now on.

[Pandamobile]

RIP

[user5669510]

I guess now I got no choice but to update my rig to w8. I'm just gonna pirate 8 til 10 come out not gonna buy 8 when I already have it. Its not bad but its just annoying . I wait for w10

[Gamer1982]

Erm this is like OLD news we were told at W8 launch it was exclusive to W8..

[Rearden]

Not a surprise, Microsoft has always used DirectX as a way of getting gamers to upgrade to a new version of Windows.

[Mega24]

A very truthful comment.

[Illusive_Man]

You should upgrade regardless. Windows 7 is a resource hog.

[Muzikguy]

This is very true, and probably why I've bought so many computers in my time. I'd say I'm not upgrading, but I probably will. I do hate how they only have DirectX working with certain versions to force people to upgrade. I might just stop after this next one though. I'm really just tired of all the upgrades. I think my favorite was XP even though it had its problems too

[xx4xx]

Yep. Pretty shocking that business would want to sell new products.

[SegaGamer]

Which is fine, but they shouldn't try and force us to upgrade.

[ATi_Elite]

Come on guys typical MS practice to get you to buy a new OS.

I just hope Dx12 is as good as advertised and that Windows 10 is as good as Win7

Heck just put some new paint on Win7 and call it 10 for all I care.

[sinspirit]

It better not restrict my permission like 7 and 8 do. I've had to set security options for my hard drive and files dozens of times because all of a sudden the administrator, me, can't download a file, install a game, or even move folders around because I have to give myself full control, but even though I do give myself full control it doesn't work, so I have to put "everyone" as the owner over and over. Oh, and now I can't install .NET framework 3.5 on W8 for.. no reason. It doesn't help that Windows update takes two hours when I manually search for an update just to tell me there is none. I'm pretty sick of Windows being so restricting and consistently bringing up these issues. For some reason I have two different menus for when I alt+tab. When the only sites I go to are trusted anime/manga sites, trusted gaming sites, Youtube, Facebook, GMail, and the only things I download are from Steam it makes it really frustrating that there is no real option to get rid of these restriction errors for advanced users. How an OS that has hundreds and hundreds of developers and an exceptionally huge amount of revenue is still broken I'll never know why these guys clearly don't address things that actual experience with Windows would have exposed.

[Muzikguy]

Yes! These are issues I'm sick of dealing with as well! I also hated some of the stuff they brought into 7. There's times I feel like I'm an idiot because past things that were so easy aren't as easy now. I don't like how when I move my cursor somewhere the window I was just in disappears, I don't like how things automatically "snap" to full screen when you move them, I don't like how the "Library" is set up... It's just frustrating. If I wanted all my files to show up in one place I'd put them all in the same folder. How they set up games is 7 is confusing too. There's 2 different program files folders and then "Games" and "My Games". Something like that anyway

[zero_gamer]

Windows 10's start menu is closer to Windows 7's than Windows 8's metro. Of course there are tiles on the side and MS won't do away with them it seems, but at least the traditional start menu is back.

I am currently running Windows 10 on a spare PC. Mind you this is just an early developer version.

[tee_bag242]

If thats all they did I'd be happy cos W8 sucks balls.

[Roccetarius]

I'll be sticking with Win 7 either way, despite this news. I honestly can't see the majority switching to (9) 10 either, unless they make some drastic changes.

As it is right now, it just seems like Windows 8 with a new coat of paint. One thing they need to do, is that they need to get rid of the ugly, ugly tiles and make ''apps'' actually close when you want them to. Also how the file system is working for 7 is better.

[yarbie1000]

I'm willing to bet that Win 10 is the new Win 7. Everyone i've seen who has tried it loves it. Win 8 runs games a lot better than 7 - and Win 10 should run games even better. My Win 7 is starting to run slow, so I personally can't wait - along with a lot of people I've talked to.

[Roccetarius]

Performance is not the problem for me, but what Microsoft is designing Win 10 for. MS seems to love their tiles and continue on with more Win 8 than 7, which is why i'm not switching anytime soon.

[yarbie1000]

@Roccetarius have you watched reviews of people using Win 10? You don't have to do tiles if you don't want. And all the features that everyone wanted from Win 7 has been brought back

[sinspirit]

The issue with me is that my laptop doesn't have drivers for 7. I'm fine with 8 because I know where everything is, but I don't like it.

[Obamanationn]

every DX12 game will just about support mantle and every Mantle Supported game will have DX12 support , so for ATI/AMD windows 7 will live on ..

[Psychotica]

Old news..

[Hoffmann]

Whatever. Won't updating before 2017.

[jhoward585]

I don't doubt DirectX 12 will be an improvement from the older direct x.

But I'd love it if MS could finally build a software from the ground up.

[lemoncake]

Windows 8.1 has been a big improvement over 8, looking forward to windows 10. We usually get a good release followed by a bad release followed by a good release so here's hoping that pattern continues.

[Mr Tretton]

Why is everyone saying 'Windows 10' are they skipping 9?

Anyway, it'll be a while before they even get anything out of DX12. I wouldn't be in any rush to upgrade.

[LethalButterfly]

To close to windows 98 with the name I think.

[sinspirit]

What chizzy201 said.

Apparently, in this day and age, they think people are going to confuse Windows 9 with Windows 95. So, they aren't even naming it Windows 9 or any sort of nickname. They just skipped a number to name it 10. Yes, it makes no sense why they thought this was a good idea or actually going to be a problem.

[Mr Tretton]

They could have just given it some kind of name like they did with XP and Vista. Silly Microsoft.

[Gore-Content]

Of course not. They're forcing you to buy 8.1.

[vega275]

I have no problem upgrading to Windows 10 but for god sakes get rid of the metro look. Its one of the biggest reasons I didnt upgrade to 8

[zero_gamer]

I am using Windows 10 right now and I can tell you the traditional start menu is back, a bit with a metro twist, but whatever. It functions much closer to our beloved Windows 7 start menu.

[Swiggins]

That's good to know zero, thanks.

Any idea on when Win10 will be available for consumers? I hear some are projecting as soon as next Spring.

[FromTheAshes]

Welp I just hope AMD's free open-source Mantle will stay compatible with Windows 7...It already shows promising benchmarks anyway. Yep not upgrading Microsoft...Sorry.

[sovkhan]

I couldn't care less, Still on my xp machine :)

[madjedi]

Can any already released game utilize direct x 12, i know the gtx 9 series supports it or is this something that isn't going to show tangible results for a few yrs.

Windows 10 looks too much like windows 8, get rid of the useless metro interface, it's a desktop not a touch screen smartphone.

[arbitor365]

trying to force that windows 8 garbage on us, I see

[Roccetarius]

Unfortunately, the metro look is here to stay as far as MS is concerned. That's one of the major reasons for me to skip their latest versions. DX 12 isn't going to get major support for a long time, so not much will change yet.

Not to mention some other things, but mainly i want them to actually develop it for Desktop like 7 was.

[pumpactionpimp]

I have 7, and don't have Dx12 video card... So I will wait for win 14 and get a new video card with it. Microsoft seems to think they offer something special with each new windows release. They don't. Dx12 games likely won't be mainstream for a few years anyways. By then dx13.1 will likely be out, and so the cycle will continue.

[Swiggins]

Well shoot...right after I bought a new laptop that's running Windows 7. Oh well, it's only running DX11, so I should be good until Windows 10 comes out.

[2pacalypsenow]

Do you need a new gpu fir dx12 or will current 7 series work?

[deadfrag]

Dx12 will work from Nvidia 500 series and forward,so your 700 series will work fine!

[2pacalypsenow]

Perfect

[feraldrgn]

Yeah, sorry, not going to get me to upgrade.
MS better not stop updating 7 sooner, just because 8's not doing so well.

[ElementX]

I don't see why people want to keep a 5 year old OS anyway. I never used Win 7 but when I built my PC two years ago I bought Win 8 to go with it. I've had no problems at all with the OS. I don't mind paying $100 for an OS that I get a few years use out of. Win 10 won't be out until probably late 2015. The new GTX 970 FTW card I ordered should be coming Monday and I can't wait to see what DirectX 12 does.

[pumpactionpimp]

What's the point in handing ms more money every time they come out with a new product? What does windows 8 offer over 7 that you absolutely have, to have? And what will windows 10 offer over 8 that makes it a must buy?

My point is that directx whatever is their only incentive for PC gamers to upgrade. And directx 11 is just starting to become a PC gaming standard now. The only directx 11.1/2 game I'm aware of (windows 8's big thing) is battlefield 4. Now that they've announced 12, nobody cares about 11.whatever.

Upgrading just to say you have it may be good for you. But I have a budget, and see upgrading to every new windows version a waste of time and money.

[ElementX]

You don't have to buy every new version of Windows. You can just buy every other version and get 6-8 years out of the use of it. It comes out to about $16/year.

[sungam3d]

Guess I won't be getting DX12 then...

[aLiEnViSiToR]

Nice try M$, nice try...