Uh what?
It's nice if it's not supported in games sure.
But that's RIDICULOUS to say "Oh, your GPU is old, it works and is capable of running windows and doing basic daily tasks but lets FORCE you to upgrade."
If I upgrade my 9800M GTS and it works but this 4870 doesn't work I'll be quite sad.
I don't expect to be able to game with old cards at all, but I expect to be able to look at the operating system screen....
I'm sure if I grab an old Core2Duo machine, it'll STILL display output and be able to be usable in Windows 10. So ya, I'm not impressed with AMD lately at all, this has been just been not a great couple weeks for building my perception of this company at all.
Let's address your entire post to provide some context because a lot of people here are quick to create a huge ruckus without considering all other key factors:
1) HD4870/4890 cards are horrible for keeping as HTPC because of their high idle power usage:
Because of this point, over the last 6-7 years of HD4870/4890 ownership, the idle power usage alone meant that for non-gaming needs a $25 HD5450 would have been a better buy as an HTPC card. Frankly, even before we start talking drivers for Windows 10, it was already worth it to get a $20-30 modern card that uses 1/3 to 1/4th the power!
2) The competing series to HD4800 series was even more worthless for 2D/HTCP for 2 simple reasons:
(1) 2D IQ was horrendous on all Nvidia cards prior to Fermi GTX400 series. Ever try using pre-Fermi NV cards for 2D/desktop work?
What about video or movie playback or blue-ray playback? Quick reminder:
(2) GTX200 series can't even pass multi-channel sound over HDMI, something that was only available on HD4800 series from AMD:
"
All of AMD's Radeon HD graphics cards have shipped with their own audio codec, but the Radeon HD 4800 series of cards finally adds support for 8-channel LPCM output over HDMI. This is a huge deal for HTPC enthusiasts because now you can output 8-channel audio over HDMI in a motherboard agnostic solution.
We still don't have support for bitstreaming TrueHD/DTS-HD MA and most likely won't anytime this year from a GPU alone, but there are some other solutions in the works for 2008."
~ AT
But guess what, see another downside to add to my point number 2) underlined for you which is a big deal for many people running HTPCs today.
That means despite how advanced HD4800 series was at the time, it's still outdated for many usage scenarios today even regardless of W10 drivers. But hey, GTX200 series couldn't even pass 8-channel audio over HDMI.
3) What's better to you -- supporting the latest GPU architectures that gamers spent a lot of $ on (HD5000 series+) or supporting older GPU architectures and neglecting newer series (Kepler)? I would pick the former. While AMD dropped game optimizations for HD4000 series earlier than NV did with GTX200 series, at least AMD optimized every single series from HD5000 to now. Kepler though has atrocious performance and still does after countless driver fixes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wn0zATB-XM
So you know what, I'll take crappy HD4870-4890 series drivers in 2015, 6-7 years after the cards launched, but at least all my future purchases were supported well. The same at all can't be said for VRAM gimped GTX470/570 1.28GB, GTX580 1.5GB, the entire Kepler line-up being neglected for the last 12 months.
HD7970 aka 280X is now 71% faster than GTX580 while GTX580 has nothing to show for its huge price premium over an unlocked $299 HD6950 = aka HD6970.
Awesome NV driver support!
4) You are forgetting how much better the entire HD4000 series stack was in terms of gaming price/performance against GTX200 series. One can easily make the argument that if someone was forward looking 5-7 years from that generation, they can easily buy a newer card for Windows 10 today for $50-100 with the $ saved from not wasting it on a more expensive GTX200 series NV card.
AMD demolished NV on price performance that generation while nV charged $100 more for the slower $400 GTX260 vs. $300 HD4870. NV also had no response at all to the $200 HD4850 and even 9800GTX+ was still a worse card overall. It took a $100 price drop and GTX260 216 for NV to be back on the map. This continued for the entirety of that generation where even HD4890 OC could trade blows with GTX285 for a fraction of the cost. I remember buying my 4890 for $195 when 275 was $230 and 285 was $350.
5) Bit-coin mining - HD4000 series' trump card. For a tech-savvy PC gamer, this point alone invalidates any GTX200 series card, period. During HD4870/4890 era, one such GPU could generate
1 bitcoin per day. Do you have any idea how much money that is for someone held on to those coins and sold them at $300-1000 each?
The bitcoins from just HD4000 series paid for
3x GTX470s and HD6950.
6) FYI,
NV is putting GTX405 series and below on legacy status as of April 1, 2016. So your 9800 series and GTX200 and 300 series will be just as worthless. In fact, they already have been a long time ago imo because of their inferior 2D IQ and for
years incredibly broken Full RGB over HDMI. :hmm:
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/nvidia-to-end-driver-support-for-legacy-products-up-to-dx10.html
So unless you had the skills to hack your registry or perform the Full RGB fix, the entire NV line-up produced inferior IQ over HDMI, and on top of it inferior 2D IQ before Fermi and on top of overpricing for GTX200 series vs. HD4800 series which means the hypothetical HD4800 user has $$$ left over today to get a $50-100 card! I keep repeating this last point because if we are going to argue the longevity of GTX200 series to April 1, 2016, it's only fair to discuss the $ saved on HD4800 series that can now be used to buy a modern used/new GPU for Windows 10. The theme I keep repeating of never overspending towards a current gen unless you have the means and instead reinvesting the savings towards a future GPU continues to hold true.
7) Should we even talk about how NV's AA IQ was also inferior to HD4800 series during that generation and NV was coming off GeForce 8/9 series that was plagued by bumpgate that killed desktop and laptop GPUs? :biggrin:
And I mean if you are really just trying to use a card for Windows 10, HD5450 for
$25 or GT620 I picked up for $20 are way better than any HD4800 or GTX200 series card.
Let's face it, any laptop or desktop from 2008-2009 era probably still has a mechanical hard drive which makes it a POS. That means someone upgrading to W10 will have to get an SSD to start with unless they like suffering in life using an outdated spin drive. What are the chances that someone with an HD4800/GTX200 series card on a desktop who is going to buy an SSD won't have
$50 to get a proper modern card?
So overall, in practical terms, I think you need to look at the overall picture imo before bashing AMD and HD4800 series. Imho, the 2D IQ and lack of bitcoin mining on competing NV series was already a non-starter for tech savvy PC gamers in 2008-2009 days.
Side-note: My friend built a Core i5 2500K rig in 2011 and even back then we were able to find a PowerColor HD5450 for $30 Canadian for his Eyefinity monitor setup. The reality is there have been countless cheap AMD and NV cards over the last 4.5 years that are far more power efficient and more advanced feature wise for basic 2D and 3D video operations.