The much-anticipated launch of the Ryzen 9000 series stirred excitement in the PC gaming community, but initial reactions were somewhat muted. Early reviews indicated that the new CPUs did not deliver significant improvements over their predecessors, falling short of AMD’s own promotional benchmarks. AMD attributed this disparity to variations in testing environments, suggesting that performance gains would materialize following an upcoming Windows 11 update.
Performance Boost with Windows 11 Update
That update, known as 24H2, is now available in the Windows Insider preview build, allowing eager users to install it immediately. The YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed took the initiative to test the Ryzen 7 9700X alongside the previous generation Ryzen 7 7700X, comparing their performance on the older Windows build versus the new 24H2 version.
The results were striking. Hardware Unboxed reported substantial gaming performance improvements for both Ryzen chips when using the Windows 24H2 build. On average, the Ryzen 9000 series saw a performance boost of around 10 percent across a suite of over 40 games, with some titles experiencing gains exceeding 20 percent and a few exceptional cases reaching up to 30 percent faster performance. While not every game benefited equally—Counter-Strike 2, for instance, only saw a modest 2 percent increase—the overall trend indicated a consistent enhancement in performance.
For those interested in the details, the full video showcasing benchmarks for both the 9700X and 7700X on Windows 11 23H2 and the latest 24H2 Insider Preview is available, providing a comprehensive look at the gaming performance across various titles:
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AMD’s explanation for the initial performance discrepancies has raised some eyebrows. The company revealed that its testing utilized a Super Admin mode, which provided enhanced access to functions that favored the Zen 5 architecture, particularly in terms of branch prediction. This mode is not something typical users would employ, yet the Windows 11 24H2 update aims to grant compatible hardware, such as the Ryzen 9000 series, access to these performance enhancements while ensuring user safety.
A 10 percent improvement in gaming performance aligns more closely with consumer expectations and makes the upgrade more justifiable. It’s worth noting that the Windows 11 24H2 gaming boost also benefits the previous-generation Ryzen 7 7700X, as evidenced in Hardware Unboxed’s testing. Gamers are particularly eager for the upcoming X3D variants of these chips, which promise additional cache to further enhance gaming capabilities.
For further insights into AMD’s initial testing challenges and how the forthcoming Windows updates are set to address them, readers can refer to PCWorld’s recent interview with AMD’s David McAfee.
