So, I am a die-hard Windows 7 user.
The original version of this post was motivated by these two things that were being discussed not long after the Ryzen launch:
It would be useful to have comparison benchmarks between Win7 and Win10, although I have yet to see any.
Motherboards known to have PS/2 ports and/or native working USB 2.0 ports on boot of Win7 install DVD:
EDIT as of 1 January 2018:
(List added above, thread title changed, boldface added below in a couple of places, text above modified to take into account that the thread has evolved since its early inception)
For anyone new to this thread, summary of what people have said:
The original version of this post was motivated by these two things that were being discussed not long after the Ryzen launch:
- Ryzen seems to actually have less issues with Windows 7 (maybe the scheduler is less aggressive?)
- Microsoft may only release a patch for Windows 10
It would be useful to have comparison benchmarks between Win7 and Win10, although I have yet to see any.
Motherboards known to have PS/2 ports and/or native working USB 2.0 ports on boot of Win7 install DVD:
- ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming
EDIT as of 1 January 2018:
(List added above, thread title changed, boldface added below in a couple of places, text above modified to take into account that the thread has evolved since its early inception)
For anyone new to this thread, summary of what people have said:
- INSTALLATION FROM OPTICAL MEDIA IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
- Results seem to be motherboard-dependent, but in general a DVD that is known to be from Microsoft either through purchase or through Digital River's ISO release program when it was in operation will work fairly well if PS/2 ports are present (see below for more).
- Use a PS/2 keyboard and mouse if at all possible during the install process for best results.
- If you cannot use a PS/2 mouse, at least use a PS/2 keyboard and use "tab" copiously.
- USB 2.0 ports are not yet verified to work natively in installing on Ryzen systems, at least on ASRock X370 Pro motherboards, for either USB media or in using a USB keyboard+mouse.
- It is possible to slipstream in USB 3.x drivers into Windows 7 for systems that lack any PS/2 type ports (A brief overview for how to do so is given here).
- The AMD Ryzen chipset drivers are required and should be installed immediately on first boot to the Windows 7 desktop for best results.
- The "AMD Balanced" power scheme may or may not show meaningful benefits on Windows 7.
- M.2 drives still have some 'teething issues' on Ryzen motherboards, so transfer speeds may be reduced compared to Intel systems. SATA SSDs connected via cable should not have this issue since the chipset drivers will install SATA support.
- Microsoft has purposely broken Windows Update for the latest-generation Intel as well as Ryzen. There is a DLL patch available, and other workarounds exist as well.