Ryzen CPUs receive a performance bump with the Windows 11 24H2 Release Preview version — impact varies

The upcoming Windows 11 24H2 update is now available on the Release Preview Channel, and some users have confirmed that this update did indeed deliver increased performance on Zen 4 and Zen 5 Ryzen PCs. Reviewer Hardware Unboxed showed an average of 10% faster performance on the 7700X and 11% on the 9700X at 1080p resolution from Windows 23H2 to 24H2, with nearly all tested games generally showing an uplift.

Another test done by Hardwareluxx showed a performance improvement of up to 23.5%, depending on the game title. However, its tests also saw some games show no improvement, and some even lost performance after the update, meaning the update is somewhat of a mixed bag for now.

This update is good news for AMD, after its launch of the Ryzen 9000 processors has been marred by negative reviews that cannot replicate the performance uplifts the company claimed. The company claimed that one reason behind this was that it ran its tests using the “Admin” Windows profile, which differs from most users' use. This profile could unlock additional performance through branch prediction optimization, and the company is working with Microsoft to ensure that all users will get this additional performance in future Windows 11 updates.

With the Windows 11 24H2 update now available for Release Preview members, many users have shown that it delivers some performance improvements. More surprisingly, it didn’t just show improvements for the Ryzen 9000 processors: even Ryzen 7000-series chips benefitted from the update. This means that AMD users with Ryzen 7000 and 9000 processors could potentially get some performance bump when the latest Windows update officially arrives later this year.

However, don’t expect this to be an across-the-board performance gain. While Hardware Unboxed generally saw a zero up to 35% improvement, depending on the title, Hardwareluxx had a different experience. Although most games it reviewed did get some improvement, some titles, like F1 24 and Baldur’s Gate 3, showed a drop in FPS instead.

At the moment, Tom’s Hardware is still working on its own benchmarks, but we hope to release our findings on the impact of Windows 11 24H2 on the Ryzen 9000 chips soon. At the very least, this news of performance improvements is a promising sign for AMD users.