Microsoft disses Hybrid SLI and CrossFire, won't support them in Windows 7
By Samuel Axon 
posted November 6th 2008 1:21PM
posted November 6th 2008 1:21PM
We're expecting a ton of new laptops to support hybrid graphics thanks to chipsets like NVIDIA's soon-to-be-ubiquitous GeForce 9400M, but Microsoft isn't as enamored with hybrid graphics as most everyone else seems to be -- it says it won't be natively supporting them in Windows 7. In a just-released document titled Guidelines for Graphics in Windows 7, the company discourages manufacturers from shipping systems with hybrid graphics like ATI's CrossFire and NVIDIA's Hybrid SLI, claiming they're "unstable and provide a poor user experience." Oh, snap. One less reason to install Windows 7 on your MacBook Pro, eh wot?
As much as i like this site i am slowly starting to stay away from engadget forums. People sure lack of understanding when it comes to technical stuff. Read carefully before posting and to avoid making yourself look like idiots.
Wow.. After all the good news about Win7 lately, I didn't see this one coming.
That just sucks.
Reason to opt for Windows 7 over XP?
DX10
As with Vista, that's what the incentive is for the gaming demographic.
All other necessary software is catered for through 3rd parties.
Microsoft is just stating what will and wont be in Windows 7 for the benefit of people building software for the platform.
I believe that Windows 7 will (aesthetically) be a stripped down Vista (consumers want practicality and performance over fancy eye candy) whilst retaining trademark Windows features (probably for the purpose of a facade over some Macintosh format :)
Theres my two cents..
DX10? what about Direct3D 11
DirectX updates mean nothing unless:
1. Graphics Cards manufacturers support it
2. Developers take advantage of the features
it's like saying "oh boy vista, I can't wait to play the lasted games 3 years from now!"
Well XP will never have DX10 regardless of what the successor is...
DX10 set a new precedent, its the foundation of a new model on which further developments will be built.
:/
:/
lol... The new MacBook Pro sucks anyways why are we worried. So we can just use Windows 7 flawlessly with our older MacBook Pro's and our other notebooks with high performance graphics.
Good job engadget, you really hit the nail on the head with this article.
I guess the user experience is much better when your battery is dead because your high end graphics card is draining your battery when you are just working on a spreadsheet. Fantastic rationalization MS.
If anyone has actually tried to fix Vista's blue screen of death, they'd know that the problem was caused by graphic drivers. This is not Microsoft's fault, but rather ATI and NVIDIA and their crappy drivers. Microsoft gave in to what the company wanted and supported bad drivers. It's nice to see that Microsoft is finally putting their foot down and making ATI and NVIDIA do what they should have for Vista.
Way to go Microshaft. Not the fact about native support as drivers will do that. But for the arrogant company to tell manufacturers to not use SLI or Crossfire because it has a 'poor user experience'!
It's obvious MS does not appear to want to support PC gaming any more to force people onto it's Xbox platform, and that's a disaster because of its failure rate (I had 3 of them) shame as it's games library is fantastic.
Never mind, I have a feeling everyone will just continue to ignore them as they always have done and advanced games and it's technology.
man screw that crap. Just as nvidia et al were giving new use to those dormant integrated graphics, microsoft pulls this shit.
my memory is failing me atm but iwas was sure macbook and mbp have two gpu's but don't use hybrid crossfire or sli, so why is this even an issue? correct me if am wrong.
@Sam Axon
"Microsoft isn't as enamored with hybrid graphics as most everyone else seems to be"
who's everyone else? please elaborate.
You notice how it says MICROSOFT won't support it?... Maybe nVidia and ATi might release a driver to use crossfire and SLi.. it just means Microsoft will stop reloading all that crap onto the windows software and users will have to install their drivers themselves..
Im no computer expert if you don't believe what I say than just skip this post!
It's odd though that 7 is based on Vista and 2008 kernel and Vista supports xfire and SLI. The removal of xfire and SLI seems to be political with either the backing of Intel or some nefarious influence. However if xfire and SLI were removed from 7 could only mean that the code was a modular part or after thought when M$ supported it. Hopefully M$ is wise enough to learn from the past that Vista's undoing was from lack of hardware support from M$ in DirectX and good drivers...
You are all a bunch of fanpussies.
This is a good thing. Instead of Microsoft having to write more stuff for hardware they have no goddamn idea about, they can focus more on the OS and leave the graphics drivers to the people who fucking make them.
"unstable and provide a poor user experience."
There is something else that phrase could describe perfectly and its made by Microsoft...
It is the very first time to me to hear people will be poor user experience with SLI or CrossFire.
How could it be?
Will there be someone hate high performance?
Maybe, Green Peace will hate SLI or CF for the sake of electricity usage...........
but..........Who else?
I'm not about to switch to a Mac, because I have to much invested in PCs. I still laugh at Microsoft's complaining that hybrid systems offer "unstable and provide a poor user experience." That's a pretty good description of my experience with Vista. As long as games will run on XP, I'm sticking with it.
Well, for the first time ever im actually agreeing with microsoft on that one.
SLi / Crossfire very unstable in my experience & causes more problems than good, also generally if "1" card cant run a game at a fair quality "2" isnt gunna do much better..... Granted, a game running at 70fps insted of 50 fps is nice, but a game running at 25fps insted of 20fps is still in need of upgrading.
SLi / Crossfire is good for the benchmarks, but benchmarking serves no real purpose, luckily i outgrew the fasination of high 3dmark scores, as long as my single 8800GTX can run every game on the market on maximum settings (Crysis included) at a fps i can happily complete the game at without getting fustrated at stuttering etc im happy.. and so far, my single 8800GTX has done just that.
Well, it looks like Microsoft has retracted the claims (at least for now). The originating site says "This information will be made available soon."
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/GraphicsGuide_Win7.mspx
Perhaps their statements were a mistake?
My ThinkPad T500 has switchable graphics, and the user experience is excellent. I run integrated for everything, and whenever I want to play games, I quickly switch to dedicated. The best part is: no restart or log out is required. In a few seconds, the modes have changed.
According to one of the local Apple Stores, the MacBook Pro does support using one or the other of the 2 Nvidia chips it has, which requires you to logout, but it does not allow you to use both together to mimic the SLI desktops. So, you can save some battery, but you cannot get the performance gain of having 2 Nvidia chips running...
@Paul
Why are you still talking. Not only are your comments pathetic but you still keep talking even after knowing that no one cares about your stupid arguments.
Anyways, I feel is a good thing on part for MS to not natively support SLI or Crossfire because they can focus more on the other aspects of the OS, so we can have an even greater experience on Windows 7.
ATI and Nvidia should be the ones who provide the drivers since they actually make the hardware. in short OS makers should worry about the OS and GPU makers should worry about the GPU and its drivers/software.
I'm sorry Microsoft, you can't say, and I quote, "unstable and provide a poor user experience." when you are the morons behind Windows Vista and its unstable release.