Long time ago I’ve noticed prolonged trend to destroy advanced technology and sell cheap plastic things, powered by marketing slogans, which have zero significance in real life. Appointed trend applies to almost any products in our life, especially consumer and even professional electronics. Some solid proof then. [COMMODORE] brought super advanced Amiga computer in the middle 80s, which had some really advanced stuff like GPU Blitter and Fast-Ram technologies. Nowadays Amd is working on stuff similar to Fast-Ram, which they call Smart Cache.

Quick breakdown of the most powerful AMD-based cards for legacy operating systems. [X850XT PE] ► WINDOWS 98 [official drivers] / Omega drivers ] [HD 3870 X 2] ► WINDOWS 2000 [official drivers] plus some INF tinkering, will review that one later on [HD 5970] ► WINDOWS 2000 [Blackwingcat hacks] [R9 270X] ► WINDOWS XP [official drivers] [6950XT] ► WINDOWS 7 [official drivers] ◄ currently rocking on that one under Windows 7 wing.

Described issue related to Windows 7 and modern AMD-based GPU’s. Some users on Reddit [have reported] ,that there is a problem with modern Radeon cards. Core of the problem: sometimes monitor can’t wake up from sleep state and shows up no signal message, despite the fact that computer continues to operate. Keyboard input, sound output are working normally though. Of course you can set Windows power management not to turn off monitor completely, but this will be quite a waste of energy.

Just a list of items i’m currently seeking for my Windows DOS/98 SE project. It will be primarily focused on simultaneous AGP and ISA availability. Build is almost complete: ETA time -> 1-2 month! 1. CPU: AMD Athlon Barton 3200+ 2. Mobo: Epox EP-8KTA3 or Abit KT7A [motherboard should have AGP and ISA buses] 3. RAM: PC133, 3 x 128Mb 4. Video card: ATI Radeon X850XT PE / X850XT / 9800XT or 3DFX Voodoo 5500

UPDATED ON: 2022-05-17 Added latest AIDA64 FPU benchmark to show supremacy over 12900K UPDATED ON: 2022-05-04 This is the most powerful configuration, which runs Windows 7 without any issues or side effects. Threadripper 3XXX is possible, but micro freezes and stuttering are present, so it is not a viable option for smooth experience. UPDATED ON: 2021-08-19 Added some benchmarks for more clearness. Internet is swarming with [amateurish articles about “incompatibility”] of modern hardware with legacy Windows 7 operating system.