Older Windows versions dropping support for latest Intel chips

Windows 7 and 8 will no longer receive updates for Intel’s new processors, in an effort to boost hardware performance on Windows 10.

Official support for devices running the sixth generation of Intel’s CPUs – also known as Skylake – has been ended on the older operating systems.

“As partners make customisations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing,” Microsoft’s Windows and devices group EVP Terry Myerson revealed in a blog announcement.

“Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support.”

Myerson explained the decision, saying: “Windows 7 was designed nearly 10 years ago before any x86/x64 SOCs existed.

“For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and firmware need to emulate Windows 7’s expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states – which is challenging for Wi-Fi, graphics, security and more.”

The move has a particularly importance for gamers, with Myerson going on to claim that the Skylake series of chips offers graphical improvements of ‘to to 30 times’ on Windows 10 versus Windows 7. Battery life is seemingly tripled, too.

A list of supported Skylake products will be released in coming days, and will be maintained until July 17th next year.

After that time, Microsoft added, “the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices”.