The latest Nvidia driver lets you run ancient CPUs in Windows again without crashing
Ever wanted to run an old Intel Core 2 Duo alongside an RTX 50-series graphics card using Windows 10 as your OS? No, me neither. And if you did, well, as of last year you couldn't… but now you can. You're welcome.
That's according to X user TheBobPony, who says the latest Nvidia drivers (576.40) no longer require the PopCnt CPU instruction. This instruction is one that CPUs in the early and mid 2000's and earlier lacked, but since then all have included it and it's even become a requirement to run Windows 11 from version 24H2 onward.
UPDATE: Recent NVIDIA drivers no longer require the POPCNT CPU instruction, this means old CPUs such as the Intel Core 2 Duo will be able to install the latest NVIDIA drivers without any issues.And yes, that also means you could possibly pair an RTX 5090 with Core 2 Duo now. ???? https://t.co/6GwpG9RrMP pic.twitter.com/v8h4eduVH5May 12, 2025
Windows 10 still allowed pre-PopCnt CPUs to run the OS, but last August TheBobPony noted that Nvidia drivers weren't playing ball with the CPU instruction—not GTX 750 or newer GPUs, anyway. So incredibly-old-CPU users that were also using newer Nvidia GPUs (a gigantic population, I'm sure) were out of luck once again.
Now, it looks like Nvidia has opened the door to such configurations once again. So, as TheBobPony says, "you could possibly pair an RTX 5090 with Core 2 Duo now." Y'know, if that's your kind of jam, along with, presumably, playing Defiled with a Zweihander in Dark Souls and other such half-nerfed glass cannon shenanigans.
On Windows 10, that is, because Windows 11 still has the PopCnt requirement. The fact that the screenshot seems to show an old CPU (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650) running on Windows 11 initially gave me pause, but I'm guessing TheBobPony has just bypassed those requirements or chose to delay updating to 24H2.
PopCnt (population count) is a CPU instruction that counts the number of activated bits (bits set to 1, not 0) in a binary number. Apparently it's important for some AI workloads, so it would make sense that 24H2 was the Windows version that introduced the requirement for it, given it was a ground-up redesign, a "full OS swap" to make way for the AI PC era.
Anyway, for those of you still holding on to a Core 2 Duo, Pentium 4, or some other ancient chip, feel free to pair that up with a new Nvidia GPU on Windows 10. And if you do, please let me know how it performs (if it performs at all) in games.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.