What's the "safe limit" for chipset/CPU generations for Win8.1?

[Tomcat76]

I originally planned to build two new PCs in the near/distant future running an XP32/XP64 dual boot and Windows 7 Pro 64-bit respectively.  Since I haven't even started selecting components for the Win7 PC and its EOL date is getting near, it might be better to make use of Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit instead.  While looking for available motherboards yesterday, I found many new ones only come with Windows 10 drivers.  One generation down, there are Win 8.1 drivers but the list is often incomplete (missing Intel Optane and Intel ME drivers, etc.).
 
I know I can do some extra digging around for drivers on the websites of the various chip manufacturers, but I was wondering if there exists a "safe limit" as far as mobo/CPU generation goes for Windows 8.1 like the one for Windows 7 (Skylake 100-series/6th gen).

Edited August 26, 2018 by Tomcat76

[xpclient]

Intel might support Windows 7 on a special Coffee Lake chipset: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13201/intel-preps-h310-revision-with-win7-coffee-lake-support I wouldn't be surprised if they support Windows 7 but not 8.1 on it, although I would like to have both 7 and 8.1 drivers.

Desktop users are really lucky. Mobile/portables will be stuck with Windows 10 Windows-as-a-Scam. 

Edited August 28, 2018 by xpclient

[Tomcat76]

I have decided to stick with Windows 7 for that PC and to upgrade to Windows 10 if I really want an up-to-date system after Win7's EOL date.
 
That's an interesting read, but the available motherboards are low-end mATX boards.  The PC will be used for video editing and will also serve as a backup computer.  They always manage to screw us over... :-)

[dencorso]

Get a 4th or 5th gen i7 and you'll be well served without parting with a lot of money. Avoid 5th gen in case XP on bare metal is part of your plan... if not, go for it!

[HarryTri]

On Τρίτη, 28 Αυγούστου 2018 at 9:03 PM, xpclient said:

Desktop users are really lucky. Mobile/portables will be stuck with Windows 10 Windows-as-a-Scam. 

That's the sad truth but yet there are the virtual machines.

Edited August 30, 2018 by HarryTri

[Fleabite]

Ive got 8.1 working on 8th gen Coffee Lake i3 8300/B360 with a GT710. Intels chipset inf installer works but there isnt an 8.1 igpu driver hence the gt710. Later monthly CUs block windows update and manually installing .msu updates, use zeffys patch to unblock.

[erpdude8]

On 4/4/2019 at 12:05 PM, Fleabite said:

use zeffys patch to unblock.

 

use latest zeffy WUFUC version (at least v1.0) to un-block new Win8.1 updates.  older versions of zeffy's wufuc app before 1.0 are not reliable and have bugs.