What's required for Aero in Win7?

[tranglos]

Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is telling me my graphics adapter won't support Aero. I have Nvidia GeForce 880 GTS with 640 MB onboard RAM. It's not two years old and I bought it specifically to run Bioshock at full res and quality - and it does. It runs Dead Space at full throttle, too - but it won't do for Aero?

My upgrade plans have just been postponed indefinitely. Good deal, Microsoft!

(I ran Vista Upgrade Advisor some time ago, and it okayed me for Aero then. Now I feel old :-)

[JavaJones]

That does *not* seem right. Do you have the latest graphics drivers? Are you perhaps running beta drivers or some other non-standard (e.g. Omega) drivers?

- Oshyan

[MilesAhead]

Hmmmmm, I wonder if there's an option to manually force it after install? The only machine I had that refused to run Aero was an HP with the Intel onboard graphics chips that used system ram for video(no dedicated video memory whatsoever.)  Just dragging windows around on the screen even in XP and the frames would jitter on that thing!!  Not sorry to say I put that one out to the curb!!  

I would try the video card manufacturer site for a forum.  Somebody prolly has it running Aero on W7 and may be able to tell you the trick to forcing it.

[Josh]

It might be that it does not support DX11 aero effects. It should still support the DX10 functionality which is a majority of aero. I could be wrong, just my thoughts.

[JavaJones]

Mmm, Josh's idea sounds like a likely possibility. I know that your card is certainly just fine for Aero on Vista, no reason it shouldn't be for Win7, but since it's not DX11 if there are advanced Aero capabilities enabled by DX11 it would make sense. Still, are there even new DX11-based effects?

- Oshyan

[Innuendo]

Something is wrong somewhere. My video card is only DX9-capable and it can run the Aero effects in Windows 7 no problem. I think I would chalk it up to a glitch in the Advisor and move on.

[bgd77]

To confirm Innuendo's supposition, I heard that the "Upgrade Advisor" has some "false positives" (and it was related to the video card, too). Unfortunately I can't find the site...

[bgd77]

To confirm Innuendo's supposition, I heard that the "Upgrade Advisor" has some "false positives" (and it was related to the video card, too). Unfortunately I can't find the site...

As it always happen, I found the site after I have put the post. Here it is:
http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/21/windows-7-upgrade-advisor/

[f0dder]

A 88xx series GF not being able to run Aero? That sounds quite like a glitch in the upgrade advisor

I have a 512meg 8800GT, which works like a charm, DX11 supported too.

[Lashiec]

Looks compatible enough to me

[Eóin]

Well Aero glass runs fine on my EeePC, a 1005HA with just integrate Intel graphics, so your card must definitely work.

[attachthumb=#]

[myarmor]

The advisor said the same for my Asus Radeon HD4890 1GB (EAH4890), so I guess the advisor is seriously mistaken..
It doesn't support DX11, but it supports DX10.1 at least.

I tested using the 9.9 drivers (the day before I updated them to 9.10).

[tranglos]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. The drivers were indeed rather old, but after updating to the latest version (September 09) Upgrade Advisor still says the same thing. And I really don't want to replace that nvidia card. I'll just assume the advisor is wrong

[tranglos]

Looks compatible enough to me

Great find, thanks!

(Given the amount of time I've been using MS software, which is pretty much every day for the last 19 years, I'm surprised how rarely I visit any MS site!)

[CleverCat]

Can u believe - Upgrade Advisor says my Microsoft Life Cam not compatible with W7?

[Stoic Joker]

Can u believe - Upgrade Advisor says my Microsoft Life Cam not compatible with W7?

Sure, it did it to me too. But the updated lifecam software showed up automagically around the end of the upgrade install.

[CleverCat]

Good to know!