I asked this in the Xeon E5 v4 review article but didn't see a response. I'm wondering what the Windows support situation is for Broadwell-EP for workstation use? Microsoft said Broadwell is the last fully supported processor for Windows 7/8.1 (support for all systems not just specific ones on a list and receiving all security updates not just ones classified as critical). Skylake is getting transitional support (only specific systems on a support list and only until 2018 and afterward only critical security updates) and Kaby Lake will not be supported. So how does Broadwell-EP fit in? Is it lumped in with Broadwell and is fully supported or will it be treated like Skylake with limited support?
And planning for the future, will Skylake-EP get the same basic Windows 7/8.1 support as other Skylake processors or will it not be supported at all since it'll presumably be released after Kaby Lake and will be using a new chipset?
"Support" in quotation marks. Windows 7 can be installed to x86 processors, and both Broadwell series and Skylake series processors are x86 processors. For the course of this post, I'll speak about Skylake series processors, which are officially "Windows 10 only" according to Microsoft and Intel, but this should apply to Broadwell series processors as well, which you're interested in.
You can install Windows 7 to Skylake-series processors without too much trouble. On some motherboards, attempting to install Windows 7 via USB media, using USB-based mouse and keyboard may result in issues, particularly if these are all connected to USB 3.0 ports. ASRock and Intel have published their own utilities for slipstreaming USB 3.0 drivers into the Windows installation media so that mouse and keyboard support is available during the installation process: http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Win7Install/index.... https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25476/Wi...
As far as extended support, such as "support" for Intel's enhanced Skylake Speed Shift is unique to Windows 10. Not sure what Speed Shift is? Check out this other AnandTech article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9751/examining-intel...
Is Speed Shift necessary for usage of Windows installations on Skylake-series processors? No, not really.
Then you may ask, "But what about security patches"? Allowing Windows 10 telemetry unfettered access to the system data on the machine to phone back home to Microsoft information farming servers is more of a security vulnerability than just about anything Microsoft/Intel might want to issue a patch for. Any packet sniffing in between the source and destination that can decrypt the transmission or any breach to Microsoft's own servers (or the NSA's, for that matter) and your data's out in the open.
You'll still get general OS patches, but anything specific to Skylake may not apply.
Gosh, and I wonder why I keep my pretty darn ancient PCI USB 2.0 card sitting around in my parts drawer. I would imagine that it would probably work right off the bat and thus avoid the USB 3.0 issues.
Some of the concern with Windows 7/8.1 support for me is legal. Whether as a contractor the IT departments or security auditors of companies I would work for would frown upon me using a Skylake system because it's not fully supported and only receives critical rated security updates and not other security updates that are rated important, moderate or low. So it looks like Broadwell-EP will be the last/fastest option for those wanting a fully supported system that can sole-boot or multi-boot Windows 7.
When MS says they are not supporting Skylake on Windows 7 DOES NOT MEAN it won't work. It just means they are not going to add any specific support for that processor in the older OS's. They are not adding in the speed shift support, essentially.
For some reason the press has not made this very clear, and many people are freaking out thinking that there will be a hard break here will stuff will straight up not work. That is not the case.
Broadwell has no new OS level features over Haswell (unlike Skylake with speed shift) so there is nothing special about Broadwell to the OS. As the poster above mentions, they are all x86 cpu's and will all still work with x86 OS's.
+1 for clearing the fud. There are real issues with windows that need to be addressed. The more we get distracted with fud, the less focused we are on demanding fixes to real problems.
The article says that the P710 support up to three M2000 GPUs, but i can't find any detail about this gpu on nvidia webpage. Is it supposed to be released later to customers?
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ltcommanderdata - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
I asked this in the Xeon E5 v4 review article but didn't see a response. I'm wondering what the Windows support situation is for Broadwell-EP for workstation use? Microsoft said Broadwell is the last fully supported processor for Windows 7/8.1 (support for all systems not just specific ones on a list and receiving all security updates not just ones classified as critical). Skylake is getting transitional support (only specific systems on a support list and only until 2018 and afterward only critical security updates) and Kaby Lake will not be supported. So how does Broadwell-EP fit in? Is it lumped in with Broadwell and is fully supported or will it be treated like Skylake with limited support?And planning for the future, will Skylake-EP get the same basic Windows 7/8.1 support as other Skylake processors or will it not be supported at all since it'll presumably be released after Kaby Lake and will be using a new chipset?
JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
"Support" in quotation marks. Windows 7 can be installed to x86 processors, and both Broadwell series and Skylake series processors are x86 processors. For the course of this post, I'll speak about Skylake series processors, which are officially "Windows 10 only" according to Microsoft and Intel, but this should apply to Broadwell series processors as well, which you're interested in.You can install Windows 7 to Skylake-series processors without too much trouble. On some motherboards, attempting to install Windows 7 via USB media, using USB-based mouse and keyboard may result in issues, particularly if these are all connected to USB 3.0 ports. ASRock and Intel have published their own utilities for slipstreaming USB 3.0 drivers into the Windows installation media so that mouse and keyboard support is available during the installation process:
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Win7Install/index....
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25476/Wi...
As far as extended support, such as "support" for Intel's enhanced Skylake Speed Shift is unique to Windows 10. Not sure what Speed Shift is? Check out this other AnandTech article:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9751/examining-intel...
Is Speed Shift necessary for usage of Windows installations on Skylake-series processors? No, not really.
Then you may ask, "But what about security patches"?
Allowing Windows 10 telemetry unfettered access to the system data on the machine to phone back home to Microsoft information farming servers is more of a security vulnerability than just about anything Microsoft/Intel might want to issue a patch for. Any packet sniffing in between the source and destination that can decrypt the transmission or any breach to Microsoft's own servers (or the NSA's, for that matter) and your data's out in the open.
You'll still get general OS patches, but anything specific to Skylake may not apply.
bill.rookard - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
Gosh, and I wonder why I keep my pretty darn ancient PCI USB 2.0 card sitting around in my parts drawer. I would imagine that it would probably work right off the bat and thus avoid the USB 3.0 issues.I should try it one day and see how that works.
yuhong - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
Yes, that should work and gets you EHCI that is compatible with Win7.Arnulf - Saturday, April 2, 2016 - link
Good luck finding a decent board with a PCI slot :-(yuhong - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
You really don't know that they use TLS for the telemetry transmissions?ltcommanderdata - Saturday, April 2, 2016 - link
Thanks for the installation tips.Some of the concern with Windows 7/8.1 support for me is legal. Whether as a contractor the IT departments or security auditors of companies I would work for would frown upon me using a Skylake system because it's not fully supported and only receives critical rated security updates and not other security updates that are rated important, moderate or low. So it looks like Broadwell-EP will be the last/fastest option for those wanting a fully supported system that can sole-boot or multi-boot Windows 7.
zodiacfml - Saturday, April 2, 2016 - link
I read somewhere that MS reverted and announced support for Skylake.yuhong - Monday, April 4, 2016 - link
Extended Skylake support until 2018 I think.extide - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
When MS says they are not supporting Skylake on Windows 7 DOES NOT MEAN it won't work. It just means they are not going to add any specific support for that processor in the older OS's. They are not adding in the speed shift support, essentially.For some reason the press has not made this very clear, and many people are freaking out thinking that there will be a hard break here will stuff will straight up not work. That is not the case.
Broadwell has no new OS level features over Haswell (unlike Skylake with speed shift) so there is nothing special about Broadwell to the OS. As the poster above mentions, they are all x86 cpu's and will all still work with x86 OS's.
extide - Friday, April 1, 2016 - link
Just to add, the difference here is between "Fully Supported" and Compatible. Skylake and even Kaby Lake will be compatible with WIndows 7/8/8.1.doggface - Saturday, April 2, 2016 - link
+1 for clearing the fud. There are real issues with windows that need to be addressed. The more we get distracted with fud, the less focused we are on demanding fixes to real problems.r3loaded - Saturday, April 2, 2016 - link
Neat. The P700 is a great workstation and I hope we'll be able to upgrade it the new Broadwell-EP chips.honeybeeanandtech - Monday, April 4, 2016 - link
Great! now we can build linus's 30,000 super computer for half price.thx lenovofrienger - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
The article says that the P710 support up to three M2000 GPUs, but i can't find any detail about this gpu on nvidia webpage. Is it supposed to be released later to customers?amr - Sunday, September 19, 2021 - link
Does P710 and P910 Support Xeon E5 V3 also ? Or only V4 ?