Following discrepancies between its own Ryzen 9000 performance data and that of reviewers, AMD may have found the culprit. Turns out, Windows 11 is holding back the full performance of the company’s Ryzen 9000 series processors and prior generations. A fix will be widely available soon, but it’s already available now via Insider Build 26100. Not content with waiting, we’ve put two chips to the test and the results are promising.
Before we get ahead of ourselves and discuss results, here’s a reminder of how we got here. Reviews of Zen 5 processors, ours included, were generally mild. Even the best architecture’s best CPUs offer minor generational performance improvements, particularly in gaming, as shown in our Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X review.
Since then, it’s come to light that AMD’s testing methodology included branch prediction code optimisations that reviewers did not have access to via Windows 11 23H2. However, they will be available as part of the upcoming 24H2 update. According to the company, Zen 5 processors stand to benefit most from these changes, but performance will improve for Zen 4 and 3 chips too.
Using a Ryzen 9 9950X, AMD claims there’s a 3-13% gaming performance delta between the two versions of Windows 11. It does stipulate that this will vary across applications, highlighting no change in Cinebench 2024 ST score. You can view the company’s full list of results on its community post.
With that out of the way, let’s see how Ryzen 7 7800X3D and a Ryzen 5 9600X measure up in some quick and dirty tests using 24H2.
23H2 vs. 24H2
For our Ryzen 5 9600X system, we’ve paired the processor with a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and 16GB of DDR5-5,200 RAM. This is a fresh installation of Windows 11, with no external applications, such as peripheral software, running in the background.
| Ryzen 5 9600X | Windows 23H2 Min/Avg | Windows 24H2 Min/Avg | Diff. (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinebench 2024 (SC) | 126 | 129 | +2% |
| Cinebench 2024 (MC) | 925 | 913 | -1% |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (FHD, High) | 108 / 134 | 106 / 128 | -2% / -4% |
For our Ryzen 7 7800X3D system, we’ve paired the processor with a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and 32GB of DDR5-7,200 RAM. This is my personal system, and should be indicative of a PC already out in the wild with the likes of Razer Snaypse and other software active.
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D | Windows 23H2 Min/Avg | Windows 24H2 Min/Avg | Diff. (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinebench 2024 (SC) | 106 | 107 | +1% |
| Cinebench 2024 (MC) | 996 | 1,035 | +4% |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (FHD, High) | 131 / 166 | 147 / 177 | +12% / 7% |
Analysis
As per AMD’s expectations, Cinebench 2024 results don’t change much at all between 23H2 and 24H2 on either processor. However, Ryzen 7 7800X3D seems to benefit the most, with a net gain of 5% across the suite, the majority coming from multi-core. It’s unclear how much of this is architectural, but this should become plain as more processors are tested with the latest Windows 11 update.
Cyberpunk 2077 proves an impressive showcase for the difference 24H2 can make. My Ryzen 7 7800X3D system shines all the more with this update, its minimum and average frame rates improving by 12% and 7%, respectively. AMD saw a 7% improvement in the game using a 9950X, so this is a welcome surprise.
Strangely, 24H2 sees performance slightly regress on Ryzen 5 9600X. I was expecting to see no change, given Cyberpunk 2077’s ‘High’ preset at 1080p leaves the system GPU-bound. I’d expect to see improvements with a more powerful graphics card, but there may still be some kinks to iron out in this preview build.
Expect more results to follow as more users hop on to the 24H2 preview. In the meantime, though, it seems there is some merit to AMD’s claims of Ryzen running afoul of Windows 11. These branch prediction code don’t appear transformative in every scenario, but will be a welcome boost in some applications.
I can’t wait to see how Ryzen 9000X3D stacks up with 24H2. It’s a shame then that a new delay means I will, in fact, have to wait.
