Microsoft improves Ryzen CPU performance with latest Windows 11 update

You can’t download more RAM, but you can now download better gaming performance if you’re the owner of a modern Ryzen desktop CPU. AMD revealed last week that it was working with Microsoft on an optimization patch for Ryzen CPUs that was due with Microsoft’s next big Windows 11 version 24H2 update, but Microsoft has now backported this to the existing 23H2 version.

The result is a significant performance improvement in gaming across a variety of Zen 4 and Zen 5 desktop Ryzen CPUs, including the popular 7800X3D chip. “Users will need to look for KB5041587 under Windows update > Advanced options > Optional updates,” says AMD in a statement to Wccftech. “We expect the performance uplift to be very similar between 24H2 and 23H2 with KB5041587 installed.”

Reviewers already started testing Microsoft’s 24H2 update for Windows 11, which is expected to be available in late September, and found that on average there’s a 10 percent performance improvement across multiple games running at 1080p on an older Ryzen 7700X. On the latest Ryzen 9700X, Hardware Unboxed found that Windows 11 24H2 also provides an 11 percent performance improvement on average in the same game tests.

Initial benchmark results for AMD’s latest Zen 5 desktop CPUs failed to impress reviewers, leading to the revelation that AMD and Microsoft have been working to optimize AMD-specific branch prediction code in Windows 11. Now that Microsoft has backported this to existing Windows 11 version 23H2 installs, you no longer need to opt into Release Preview testing to get 24H2 and the Ryzen CPU performance improvements.