AMD Will Boost Performance of Zen 5, Zen 4, and Zen 3 CPUs with New Windows Update, Delivering up to 13% Faster Gaming Performance on Ryzen 9 9950X

AMD has published a blog post about why customers may be disappointed in the gaming performance of its new Ryzen 9000 Series “Zen 5” processors, and with it comes the news that a new Windows update has been in the works at Microsoft, one that includes optimized AMD-specific branch prediction code to improve the performance of multiple generations of Zen processors, including those based on the Zen 5, Zen 4, and Zen 3 architectures. The new update, which is said to unlock the best performance for these CPUs, will be available in Windows 11 version 24H2 in preview through the Windows Insider Program (Release Preview Channel – Build 26100) or by downloading the ISO here.

Check out our Deep Dive video Commentary and Analysis Below of the news:

AMD on why reviewer data isn’t matching up with its own numbers:

• “The AMD gaming test suite includes a broad set of esports, AAA, and popular older games, which are a combination of CPU- and GPU-bound titles. Game performance conclusions can be influenced significantly by the makeup of the test suite.”
• “AMD tested Intel configurations using comparable DDR5-6000 memory as well as Intel default settings-baseline power profile which can have a small impact on gaming performance.”
• “AMD also tests with Windows Virtualization-based Security (VBS) enabled. This is the default Windows behavior and Microsoft recommends activating VBS to improve security, however it can affect gaming performance.”
• “The ‘Zen 5’ architecture incorporates a wider branch prediction capacity than prior ‘Zen’ generations. Our automated test methodology was run in ‘Admin’ mode which produced results that reflect branch prediction code optimizations not present in the version of Windows reviewers used to test Ryzen 9000 Series.”

Performance improvements that the update will bring include:

AMD noted:

“Zen 5” will see the biggest boost, but this Windows update will improve performance for “Zen 4” and “Zen 3” as well. We’re collaborating with Microsoft to roll out this optional update to all Windows 11 users soon.

…the Ryzen 9000 Series delivers leadership performance across content creation, productivity and AI applications. On a generational basis, Ryzen 9000 Series delivers a ~10% improvement in productivity and creative workloads, ~25% improvement in AI workloads, and 5-8% improvement in gaming over the Ryzen 7000 Series.

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