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Title. Basically want to know if it's possible given that any hardware developed since 10 came out might not have 7 drivers?????
This question / problem has been solved by Themkenimage
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OldFatGuy: Title. Basically want to know if it's possible given that any hardware developed since 10 came out might not have 7 drivers?????
I can't say definitively, but most hardware should still have 7 drivers available. The exceptions are more likely some specialty hardware or little-known/used brands. Most businesses I believe are still using 7 and so is a large segment of the general PC using population.

*edit* I guess the issue you'd most likely run into is if you want to play any newer games that would require DX12 or whatever. Not sure if they'd run on Win7.
Post edited November 10, 2017 by GR00T
I think you would have problems even finding a Windows 7 license and then problems getting things to work unless you buy slightly old hardware or fix the drivers yourself. Also, Windows 7 security holes will only be fixed until January 2020 after which you could start dual booting with some of the simpler Linux distros (distibution packs) and use that for online. Also more and more newer games will NOT support such an old Windows version. The latest processor generation do NOT support Windows 7. Here is where advanced driver tweaking comes in.

I do not suggest you going that route but there are ways and means. Just no DirectX 12.
Post edited November 10, 2017 by Themken
Not too many games require DX12, for now, and the ones that do tend to be Windows Shop exclusives, so you're safe because that isn't a feature of 7.

Inevitably, other than Gears of War and possibly Xbox exclusives that get ported to Win 10, all other games come with or get a DX11 version sooner or later.

Though I think OFG isn't likely to want to play bleeding edge games unless they're on GOG, anyway ;)

As far as drivers, I haven't seen anything that doesn't support Win 7, but when you're buying part or preparing a build, it's always good to double check. AFAIK Ryzen processors and AM4 motherboards still support 7, the question is does 7 support DDR4 RAM, which I'm not sure of. The rest, like peripherals, are still supporting 7 to the best of my knowledge.

I don't have a definitive answer for you, but I do have a friend that within the past 6 months built a Win 7 machine with an i7 intel processor, and it runs fine according to him. I don't have all of his specs, though, so that's about the best info I can give you.

EDIT: Looks like I'm wrong about Ryzen. My bad.
Post edited November 10, 2017 by CymTyr
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Themken: I think you would have problems even finding a Windows 7 license
Yeah that was going to be my next question because I don't want to use pirated or "fishy" OS software. I'm not even sure if it's "safe" to purchase on ebay. Was hoping that there was some credible sources that still offered it. Probably not though?

Guess if I do one then it's Windows 10.
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OldFatGuy: Yeah that was going to be my next question because I don't want to use pirated or "fishy" OS software. I'm not even sure if it's "safe" to purchase on ebay. Was hoping that there was some credible sources that still offered it. Probably not though?
You just MIGHT find a copy on a shelf in a shop if you search long enough in enough shops, if you are lucky.
I'll stay clear of debating whether someone SHOULD still build a Win7 system. But to your specific question of whether you CAN build one using the latest hardware... yes, you technically still can.

Legit Win7 or 8.1 64-bit licenses can easily be purchased on Amazon and Newegg.

A very simple patch will allow Windows 7 or 8.1 to run on modern CPUs. There's no reason why it can't, other than Microsoft artificially disabling Windows Update support (which this patch corrects):
https://github.com/zeffy/wufuc/releases/tag/v0.7.1.81

I did a quick check at NVIDIA, AMD, and several motherboard manufacturers' websites, and their latest boards still have Win7 / 8.1 drivers (some even still support 32-bit Win7).

The only games which would be restricted to only Windows 10 would be ones you have to download through the Windows Store (which I would recommend staying away from to begin with). There are still plenty of people running earlier versions of Windows, so the number of games which require Win10 will be very, very small for many years to come. Even if a game includes DirectX 12 support, it will still run on Win7 as long as it can also fall back to DirectX 9 (and the developer doesn't take any artificial steps to limit it).
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Ryan333: I'll stay clear of debating whether someone SHOULD still build a Win7 system. But to your specific question of whether you CAN build one using the latest hardware... yes, you technically still can.

Legit Win7 or 8.1 64-bit licenses can easily be purchased on Amazon and Newegg.

A very simple patch will allow Windows 7 or 8.1 to run on modern CPUs. There's no reason why it can't, other than Microsoft artificially disabling Windows Update support (which this patch corrects):
https://github.com/zeffy/wufuc/releases/tag/v0.7.1.81

I did a quick check at NVIDIA, AMD, and several motherboard manufacturers' websites, and their latest boards still have Win7 / 8.1 drivers (some even still support 32-bit Win7).

The only games which would be restricted to only Windows 10 would be ones you have to download through the Windows Store (which I would recommend staying away from to begin with). There are still plenty of people running earlier versions of Windows, so the number of games which require Win10 will be very, very small for many years to come. Even if a game includes DirectX 12 support, it will still run on Win7 as long as it can also fall back to DirectX 9 (and the developer doesn't take any artificial steps to limit it).
This should be the accepted solution IMO. :-)
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Themken: I think you would have problems even finding a Windows 7 license
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OldFatGuy: Yeah that was going to be my next question because I don't want to use pirated or "fishy" OS software. I'm not even sure if it's "safe" to purchase on ebay. Was hoping that there was some credible sources that still offered it. Probably not though?

Guess if I do one then it's Windows 10.
At the very least eBay is safe-ish. hahah - not much help, am I? But I've purchased MS_DOS 6.22 multiple times, Win98SE, and Win7 at least twice on eBay, all with a Certificate of Authenticity, license label, etc. Haven't had a problem with any of them, either installing or registering them with MS (Win7, anyway - the other two don't phone home).

Whether you go that route or Ryan333's suggestion of Amazon or Newegg, make sure you get a full copy and not a Student or Upgrade version. Those look tempting because of price, but I'll suggest sticking with the full install retail version since that seems to be the easiest way to avoid hassles during installation. I also suggest you make sure it comes with Service Pack 2, else you'll spend forever and a day getting it updated after the initial installation. Even with SP2 it'll still take forever to get all of the updates, but you'll save that day at the end. ; )

Good luck.
Thanks for all of the replies goggers. I recently lost both of my rigs, both self built (with a LOT of help from the goggers especially JMich), and now only have this laptop. I would like to have desktops more than laptops given the amount of gaming I do (basically I game EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE) but I just don't like Windows 10.

When you buy a laptop you're basically "forced" to accept whatever OS it comes with and this one had Windows 10 and I've been using it about a year and I just do NOT like it near as much as like Windows 7. I thought, maybe most others will disagree, but I thought Windows XP and Windows 7 were probably the two best Microsoft did.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11182/how-to-get-ryzen-working-on-windows-7-x64

Simplified list of what to do.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20758568038
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OldFatGuy: ...but I thought Windows XP and Windows 7 were probably the two best Microsoft did.
98se FTW!
It should be possible to get Win7 running on newer hardware as there was a hack to allow running it on newer CPUs. Driver issues are a possibility, but I do recall that at least one Ryzen motherboard did officially support Win7 before Microsoft made it refuse to update on such systems.

Another option is to buy older/second-hand parts that are known to have Win7 compatibility... it should still be fairly easy to find copies of Win7 if needed, either unused OEM keys or second hand retail copies. Alternatively, perhaps this is a good time to consider trying Linux? :p
Hi OFG,

I know this has been solved, but thought I'd let you know it is indeed possible. See my post above for specs etc.

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/new_win7_pc

My guy said that current processors wouldn't run Win7, when I mentioned a patch that would, he said that Microsoft would probably counter it in an update. So I have a processor (I7 Haswell) that happily runs Win7.

I usually read your posts and wouldn't want another "Old Guy" to be unaware of options when it comes to reliably running games.

My current limited understanding is that DX12 graphics and sound won't work on an older processor, but who needs AAA lootbox crap anyway.

Hope this helps and doesn't add to your confuzziness.