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In context: Nvidia just lately rolled out a GeForce driver replace that quietly made older Intel processors, particularly the Core 2 household, technically appropriate with the newest RTX 50-series GPUs. It initially seemed like a promising “loophole” for retro PC fanatics, however sadly, issues have not performed out as anticipated.
The important thing to this stunning growth lies in a single instruction: POPCNT, or “Inhabitants Depend.” This CPU-level instruction is used to calculate the variety of bits set in a binary worth, which is significant for a lot of low-level operations in trendy software program. Till now, Nvidia’s drivers required this instruction, excluding older CPUs from utilizing the newest GPUs.
Nonetheless, with the brand new driver dropping that requirement, customers can now pair their highly effective RTX playing cards with chips that date again over 15 years. Tinkerer Bob Pony shortly examined this on X utilizing an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 with an RTX 5060 Ti. He discovered that it “works,” at the very least when it comes to getting the system besides into Home windows 11.
The struggles of utilizing a Core 2 Quad paired with NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti… cannot play majority of video games that use ray tracing as a result of processor missing some instruction units required for the sport to run. 🫠 pic.twitter.com/XcwZFxhHXS
– BobPony.com (@TheBobPony) May 17, 2025
Sadly, issues grew to become irritating as Pony dug deeper. Whereas the setup labored on paper, real-world gaming efficiency did not comply with. Making an attempt to run ray-traced video games like Quake II RTX led to errors and crashes. Pony said that the “majority of video games” that use ray tracing would not run as a result of processor missing the required instruction units. Screenshots confirmed the failure.
Because it stands, trendy video games, particularly these with ray tracing assist, depend on greater than only a highly effective GPU. Even when the driving force now not requires POPCNT, many video games nonetheless do, stopping them from working correctly.
It is price mentioning right here that this is not the primary time POPCNT has been a hurdle for getting older methods. When Microsoft started previewing Home windows 11 24H2, it quietly added POPCNT as a required {hardware} function alongside Safe Boot and TPM. That transfer alone disqualified many older processors, even when customers might beforehand set up the OS unofficially.
Nonetheless, all will not be misplaced. Whereas ray-traced titles are a no-go, there’s nonetheless worth in pairing a contemporary GPU with an older CPU for traditional or mid-tier video games. There may also be potential for the neighborhood to construct a compatibility database by outlining which video games proceed to play nicely on quirky setups like these.
