Microsoft Named Processors Compatible With Windows 11 - Many Will Smoke

The list of supported processors turned out to be quite extensive and Microsoft divided it into three sections, one for Intel, AMD и Qualcomm. The list of supported Intel processors covers almost all chips that are currently relevant. True, it may surprise some that this list does not include representatives of the Skylake and Kaby Lake families (6th and 7th generation Core processors, Skylake architecture), as well as older Intel chips.

List of supported Intel processors:

• Intel 8th generation (Coffee Lake),

• Intel 9th ​​generation (Coffee Lake Refresh),

• Intel 10th generation (Comet Lake),

• Intel 10th generation (Ice Lake),

• Intel 11th generation (Rocket Lake),

• Intel 11th generation (Tiger Lake),

• Intel Xeon Skylake-SP,

• Intel Xeon Cascade Lake-SP,

• Intel Xeon Cooper Lake-SP,

• Intel Xeon Ice Lake-SP.

As for AMD, this list covers chips from Ryzen 3 3250C to Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3995WX. You will not be able to install Windows 11 on a computer with a XNUMXst generation AMD Ryzen processor (Zen architecture).

List of supported AMD processors:

• AMD Ryzen 2000,

• AMD Ryzen 3000,
• AMD Ryzen 4000,
• AMD Ryzen 5000,
• AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2000,
• AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000,
• AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000,
• AMD EPYC 2nd Gen,
• AMD EPYC 3rd Gen.

Qualcomm's list includes seven supported processors, ranging from the Qualcomm 850 to the custom Microsoft SQ2 used in the Surface family of devices.

You can check the compatibility of your equipment with Windows 11 using the utility Microsoft PC Health. If you receive an incompatibility message, you should make sure that the system has a Trusted Platform Module hardware or software module and it is activated, since this is now a prerequisite for installing the OS. You can do this in the BIOS settings. Microsoft has also confirmed that Windows 11 can be installed on systems not only with hardware, but also with TPM software version 1.2 and higher. Most systems released in the last 5-7 years support TPM, Microsoft says. 

Additionally, Secure Boot must be enabled to install Windows 11 on a UEFI system. It and TPM are aimed at improving the security and protection of the operating system from malicious software. If, even after activating these features, the PC Health utility indicates incompatibility, then most likely the computer is using an unsupported processor or an outdated hardware TPM.

As for other requirements, Windows 11 requires a compatible 64-bit processor with two processing cores, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. Owners of licensed copies of Windows 10 will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free through Windows Update when Microsoft begins distributing a new version of the software platform.