Last week it came to light that Windows 11 was worsening the performance of computers with AMD processors. Now, unfortunately, the first update to Microsoft's next-generation operating system is hurting performance even more . However, a new patch that promises to put an end to the inconveniences is on the way.
As explained by AMD itself, the drop in performance of its Ryzen processors in Windows 11 is due to two problems. One is that the latency of the L3 cache is multiplied by three. The other comes from the UEFI CPPC2 (also known as “preferred kernel”) which is in charge of detecting the fastest kernel and managing the worker threads in the most appropriate way.
Now, Microsoft has released its “Patch Tuesday” with an update (KB5006674) that comes with security patches, solves some specific compatibility problems, but complicates things even more for AMD users. According to TechPowerUp, the latency of the L3 cache of a Ryzen 7 2700X went from 17 ns to 31.9 ns after updating Windows 11.
Precisely, the L3 cache is one of the pillars of the performance of the Zen 3 architecture processors. These have a unified design that incorporates 8 cores and 32 MB of L3 cache in a single group. Consequently, latency-sensitive tasks such as games should perform better, but Windows 11 is limiting these benefits.
A new patch for Windows 11 is on the way
Credit: Unsplash Microsoft and AMD are working together to solve these problems. The patch that fixes the problems with the L3 cache should arrive on Tuesday October 19 through Windows Update. The one that puts an end to the “preferred kernel” error, meanwhile, should be ready by October 21 , although possibly corporations can access them earlier.
The hardware requirements of the new operating system left a large number of processors without support, so this type of problem is particularly curious. If a user with compatible AMD processors has not yet upgraded to Windows 11 and wants to avoid performance loss, they can choose to stay on Windows 10 until the issues are fixed.
