AMD has decided to retire all the GPUs that are not based on Graphics Core Next architecture, which basically means that Radeon HD 5000 and HD 6000 are now moved to legacy status and will no longer get any driver support.

According to AMD, GPUs based on VLIW4 and VLIW5 architectures, which means Evergreen and Northern Islands GPUs have been retired and will no longer be supported. This includes the AMD Radeon HD 5000 and HD 6000 series as well as Radoen HD 7000 to HD 7600 and Radoen HD 8000 to HD 8400 parts, which were pretty much based on the same architectures.

AMD has stopped selling pre-GCN based graphics cards in 2012 and majority of those were replaced with GCN-based 7000 series graphics cards. AMD noted that pre-GCN GPUs have "reached peak performance optimization” and by retiring them, allows AMD to "dedicate valuable engineering resources to developing new features and enhancements for graphics products based on the GCN Architecture.”

AMD has also noted that there will be no further driver releases for pre-GCN GPU-based graphics cards and that these will be covered by the last WHQL-certified driver, the Catalyst 15.7.1, released back in July, as well as a beta build of the new Crimson 15.11 driver.

This move from AMD does not come as a surprise considering that Graphics Core Next architecture has pretty much killed the VLIW architecture based graphics cards, even when it was announced back in 2011. Pre-GCN GPUs also lack support for DirectX 12, which is definitely the next big thing.

This move also means that all APUs based on VLIW GPU architecture will also be retired, including Llano, Trinity and Richland APUs.



Source: AMD Legacy Driver support.