Linus Tech Tips brought up a hardware factor I never considered for program compatibility.

[TrevMUN]

It used to be, back in 2009, that I thought my only real challenge in staying with XP64 would be that I'd not be able to play newer games that use versions of DirectX newer than 9. Then I got firsthand experience with how there's also the issue of API compatibility, i.e. newer versions of Windows having APIs not present in the XP family.

Well, now there's something else I hadn't considered which Linus brought up; video cards that say they support a certain version of DirectX doesn't mean they actually support that version flawlessly. DirectX is actually a group of APIs which receive updates of their own, and the collective state of these updates are more or less a type of subversion that Microsoft calls a "Feature Level." In the case of my nVidia GTX TITAN X Maxwell, even though it's said to be compatible with DirectX 12, it only supports up to Feature Level 12.1. That means any programs which require DirectX 12.2 or more wouldn't run with this video card, even if I were to use it with a Windows 10 or 11 install. And that, of course, wouldn't be limited to just games ... any program that uses DirectX for anything.

This a more vexing issue for older cards. Many cards a decade old have specs that, on the face of it, should still allow them to run certain current programs and games, and yet they either fail to do so or crash. There are some compatibility layers that convert D3D calls to Vulkan, though, based on Steam Proton. That might work for those who are able to use them.

[UCyborg]

So your card probably came out when everything in DirectX 12 of the time was supported, so specs written then may not accurately represent current situation.