When AMD released its Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors, it claimed to deliver an impressive 16% IPC (instructions per clock/cycle) boost. This was a great opportunity for AMD, given how rival Intel is currently struggling with CPU stability issues.
Unfortunately, AMD just could not capitalize on the situation, it seemed, as most of the independent third-party tech media community felt the performance uplift on Ryzen 9000 was not enough compared to Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series CPUs for it to be considered a generational uplift worthy of an upgrade.
Comparative performance testing between Windows 11 24H2 and Linux (Nobara) also revealed that the latter generally came out on top much more often in gaming as well as other workloads, we guessed that perhaps Windows needed more optimization; and our speculation turned out to be right as AMD did confirm later that this was indeed the case and in order to bypass the performance bug, the hidden Windows Admin account was summoned.
AMD had promised that it was working on a fix and today, it has revealed more details about its upcoming performance patch. The company essentially says that Windows 11 24H2 in its current state (without the Admin account) is unable to properly utilize the wider branch prediction capabilities of the Zen 5 architecture.
For those not familiar, branch prediction in CPUs helps minimize branch misprediction penalties and is especially useful in highly pipelined processor designs.
It writes:
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.
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Optimized AMD-specific branch prediction code 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
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"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.
AMD has also provided a few examples of the improvement it is expecting post-patch. Using a Ryzen 9950X, the company expects to see the biggest gain in Far Cry 6 with an uplift of 13%. FC 6 is a single-thread heavy title indicating that users may see some nice single-core boosts. Cyberpunk 2077 and UL Procyon Office test also see decent gains of 7% and 6% respectively.
You may find more details about the upcoming patch here on its official blog post on AMD's website.
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