Nvidia is ditching Windows 7 and 8 drivers and older graphics cards

No performance tweaks or new features are foreseen in the future – but security patches will continue to come.

Nvidia is ending support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 with their graphics drivers in October 2021.

This means that the company’s Game Ready driver will only support Windows 10 from now on when we discuss new features, performance improvements, or bug fixes.

However, Nvidia hasn’t completely abandoned these users just yet, as vital security patches continue to be applied – but that’s it, no additional bug fixes. Major security fixes will be implemented for Windows 7 and 8/8.1 until September 2024.

An interesting point is that while Windows 7 and Windows 8 are no longer supported by Microsoft – which we don’t recommend using them – this is not the case with Windows 8.1. The latest OS retained a year and a half of work and support from Microsoft, so Nvidia is taking the first steps in this regard.

Nvidia says: “Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 7 and Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 is also nearing the end of its lifecycle. The vast majority of our GeForce users have migrated to Windows 10.

“In order to provide GeForce users with a high level of security, support, and functionality, Nvidia will focus on a single operating system.”

In other words, all the resources that were diluted in maintaining older OSes can now be directed to Windows 10.

Supporters of Windows 8.1

Keep in mind that some people are still running Windows 8.1, although you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free (this feature has never gone away). Admittedly, the number of users is tiny – if you study the latest Steam hardware survey, only 1% hang on this platform. But users may be using Windows 8.1, for example, due to outdated hardware or mistrust of Windows 10 caused by previous privacy disputes.

If you’re a gamer with an Nvidia graphics card, here’s another reason to get a free Windows 10 update (perhaps before Microsoft closes this window, which could happen, since we’re expecting Windows 11 or something like that). Also, don’t forget that there are a growing number of Windows 10-only games anyway.

The latest Game Ready driver supporting Windows 7/8/8.1 will arrive on August 31st and the new R495 driver will end support on October 4th.

This R495 driver will also drop support (again, except for important security fixes) for Kepler GPUs, i.e. GeForce GTX 600 and 700 series graphics cards. Of course, these are old GPUs, but you must remember that many use the 700th series (e.g. GTX 750 and 750 Ti).

Choose the best Nvidia graphics card.