Windows 11 upgrade requirements mystify me

HAL
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Topic 226165

I figure you all are the go-to for this question. I have researched this and can find no explanation for the why.

So the PC I'm typing on now has a Ryzen 7 1700. 8 core 16 proc. The Windows PC Health Check, which tells you what is not up-to-snuff for the upgrade, informed me today that this CPU isn't going to make the cut! It isn't good enough for Windows 11. I was in a state of shock. How can that be?

In the other room I have (what I thought) was a "lesser" PC which has a Ryzen 3 3200G - 4 core 4 proc. I went to that PC, thinking well this one for sure won't pass the test. Well guess what? The Windows PC check said that processor was good to go for Windows 11. Huh?

 

If you look at the Windows 11 list of supported AMD processors, it in fact does not list the Ryzen 7 1700 and does list the Ryzen 3 3200G.

Can anyone give me a rational explanation for that?

Thank you.

Processing work units with "outdated" (according to Microsoft) Ryzen 7 1700

Ian&Steve C.
Ian&Steve C.
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Rational? Dunno. But it’s

Rational? Dunno. But it’s been known for a while that Microsoft said they wouldn’t support first gen ryzen. 
 

apparently you CAN install win11 on first gen ryzen. But you’ll need to do a fresh install. Can’t upgrade your existing install. 
 

https://www.hardwaretimes.com/windows-11-will-work-on-1st-gen-ryzen-and-intel-6th-7th-gen-processors-via-iso-file-no-additional-workaround-needed

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GWGeorge007
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It's more the age of the CPU

It's more the age of the CPU than the power of the CPU.  A Ryzen 7 1700 was built before the Ryzen 3 3200G, and therefore it is older in it's build cycle.  The age of the CPU has to do with what tasks it is designed to cover, and what security measures also.  Windows 11 is new in concept and new in security measures, which is why it wants one of those little modules.   :<)   (TPM?)

And yes, there are work arounds to installing Windows 11 on older CPU PCs.  They may work, and then again they may not.  It all depends on what and how you install it.  But, be aware, you may be defeating the purpose of running Windows 11, supposedly with a higher security level, if you go the route of defeating their installation guidelines.

And then, there are those, like us running Linux, that feel Micro$oft is looking to have a reason to actually sell more PCs and therefore get more profits from the manufactures selling preinstalled Windows 11.

George

Proud member of the Old Farts Association

HAL
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Ian&Steve C.

Ian&Steve C. wrote:

Rational? Dunno. But it’s been known for a while that Microsoft said they wouldn’t support first gen ryzen. 

I'm just wondering about the why? I can't find any answers. Why Ryzen 3 3200g and not Ryzen 7 1700? They can both do fTPM. What is the ability that the 3200G has that the 1700 does not have? It's not in totality a more powerful processor. Is it simply "Because We Microsoft Say So" so it is written so shall it be done?
 

Quote:

apparently you CAN install win11 on first gen ryzen. But you’ll need to do a fresh install. Can’t upgrade your existing install.

 

Yea I saw that. I also saw today that this PC was not capable of secure boot so I looked into that issue. Turns out I had to convert the MBR into GPT. Fortunately there was a command line utility that did the trick, so that's solved.

Processing work units with "outdated" (according to Microsoft) Ryzen 7 1700

Keith Myers
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MBR is not capable of Secure

MBR is not capable of Secure Boot which needs a UEFI BIOS.  GPT does allow Secure BOOT and UEFI.

All about professed security. But have a suspicion it is all about the WINTELMICKEYSOFT hegemony of selling you new devices when your existing device is still functional and more than capable.

 

Exard3k
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I wouldn't downgrade to Win11

I wouldn't downgrade to Win11 just yet. There are also news with Ryzen losing 15% performance in Win11 "just because". So even if you have support for everything, Win11 isn't optimized at all and still has plenty of bugs. It's more or less a Beta right now.

Don't pay the early adopter tax. What worked fine for me were all the new ads that come in Win11, guess this had a higher priority for Microsoft than making hardware run.

I'm so glad I only have to deal with it at work.

HAL
HAL
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Exard3k wrote:I wouldn't

Exard3k wrote:

I wouldn't downgrade to Win11 just yet. There are also news with Ryzen losing 15% performance in Win11 "just because". So even if you have support for everything, Win11 isn't optimized at all and still has plenty of bugs. It's more or less a Beta right now.

The exact same MoBo (MSI B350M PRO-VD PLUS) with the exact same cpu (Ryzen 7 1700) is sitting to my right, crunching Einstein@home science on all 16 processors + a browser + other system activities. Runs 24/7/365 with no issues. Only difference is it's Linux Mint ...

MS is telling me that such a machine will not be acceptable for Windows 11. Um ... OK ... :-(

Quote:

Don't pay the early adopter tax. What worked fine for me were all the new ads that come in Win11, guess this had a higher priority for Microsoft than making hardware run.

I'm so glad I only have to deal with it at work.

Oh I hear ya. I'm not in any hurry I just got peeved that they claim my Ryzen 7 1700 isn't going to cut it! OK back to the word link thread :-)

Processing work units with "outdated" (according to Microsoft) Ryzen 7 1700

mikey
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Exard3k wrote: I wouldn't

Exard3k wrote:

I wouldn't downgrade to Win11 just yet. There are also news with Ryzen losing 15% performance in Win11 "just because". So even if you have support for everything, Win11 isn't optimized at all and still has plenty of bugs. It's more or less a Beta right now.

Don't pay the early adopter tax. What worked fine for me were all the new ads that come in Win11, guess this had a higher priority for Microsoft than making hardware run.

I'm so glad I only have to deal with it at work. 

As a Beta Tester for Win11 I can say I don't see any ads etc but do see problems they need to solve before it is ready for everyone to adopt, ie I moved the task bar stuff back to the left and even still it has 'place holders' for things and will leave a blank space if you move or delete something. Yes I can slide things over to cover the blank spaces but everytime an item that has been slid over, for me MS Excel, Family Tree Maker, Boinc and Chrome, refreshes itself it slides back to the right leaving an open space again. NOT a deal breaker but not user friendly either!! I have an Asus laptop running an AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series cpu with an Nvidia 1650 gpu and all the drivers just worked. I am running OS Name   Microsoft Windows 11 Home and it auto updated, because I'm a beta tester, and continues to do so periodically. I am NOT on the bleeding edge of updates though so am still a couple versions behind from the bleeding edge testers.

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