Windows 11: AMD fixes performance issues – Tom’s Hardware

Up to 15% less performance was observed for AMD processors between Windows 10 and 11: the fixes are now published.

Promise kept. Just hours after the official release of Windows 11, hammer blow for AMD and Microsoft: we noticed up to 15% less performance in some games, between the last two versions of the operating system. AMD did not hide it, and quickly played the transparency card on this thorny issue. On his official website, he mentions two main problems. First of all, an increase in the latency of the L3 cache of approximately 300%, which would translate in practice into reduced performance of 3 to 5% in certain applications, and of 10 to 15% in games. And then, poor handling of UEFI CPPC2 (preferred cores), a feature managed by the operating system that identifies the two best cores of a processor, those most likely to increase in frequency, in order to distribute the all charges. A concern that concerns in particular processors with more than eight cores and 65 W of TDP.

All the AMD processors supported by Windows 11 would be concerned, that is to say those under Zen +, Zen 2 and Zen 3 architectures (Ryzen 2000, Ryzen 3000, Ryzen 4000 and Ryzen 5000), but also the professional EPYC ranges and certain Athlon chips. Very quickly, AMD promised corrective updates, working closely with Microsoft. A first patch had been published in the wake, but had not yet solved the problem, sometimes even going so far as to… worsen it.

AMD: fixes to apply now

But it’s now done, and apparently well done: since last night, AMD and Microsoft have released two updates. First of all a new version of the chipset driver (AMD Chipset Driver Software 3.10.08.506), specially dedicated to the correction of the UEFI CPPC2 bug. But also a Microsoft hotfix KB5006746, which should now appear in Windows Update. If it is not yet offered to you when you check for updates, feel free to follow the link above to install it manually. You will find the full technical details of the two fixes on AMD’s official website.

We will be sure to test the impact of these fixes on performance in the coming hours. But a few days before the launch of the new generation of Intel processors, the Alder Lakes, which will embody the twelfth generation of the Core, here are the two teams again on the same starting line to assess their performance under the latest version of the system. Microsoft’s operation.