This update initially concerned Windows 11 24H2, but was subsequently extended to Windows 11 23H2.
Despite the technological innovations they incorporate, the Zen 5 architecture Ryzen 9000 processors launched by AMD in the middle of the summer were a little disappointing in terms of performance. Oh, we shouldn't exaggerate, and they're already performing very well, bringing real improvements to many applications, but AMD had been so laudatory in its communication that testers, and immediately afterwards the users themselves, found that the performance gaps between the Ryzen 9000 Zen 5 and Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 generations weren't pronounced enough, particularly in the gaming domain.
AMD was annoyed, but the beginning of a solution came with the announcement of a software update: Windows 11 24H2 would indeed see an improvement in its code to make the branch prediction tool more efficient. Behind this tool lies a module enabling the processor to envisage the tasks it will have to perform in the future. Of course, it sometimes makes mistakes, but when the branch prediction tool gets it right, it speeds up tasks considerably. Microsoft has therefore updated Windows to make Ryzen 9000 branch prediction more efficient, and this effectively boosts the performance of these little chips.
The Hardware Unboxed site wasted no time in putting this to the test, and came up with some pretty impressive gains, albeit very different from one game to the next. On Far Cry 6, for example, we're talking about 12% to 15%, depending on image definition, while Cyberpunk 2077 requires only 7% to 8%... which isn't bad at all. What's more, this update doesn't just improve the performance of Ryzen 9000s in Zen 5 architecture, as AMD is quick to point out: while Ryzen 9000s seem to benefit the most, Ryzen 7000s and even Ryzen 5000s make significant progress.
That said, the best news came a little later, the day after AMD's first announcement. Basically, it was just a question of an update for Windows 11 24H2, a version of Microsoft's system that isn't even really available yet, reserved for members of the Windows Insider program. However, Microsoft has decided to port this update to Windows 11 23H2, the version of the system currently deployed. In fact, all Ryzen 5000, 7000 and 9000 owners can already try it out. However, the Hardwareluxx website has also carried out a few tests, noting that in some (rare) cases, performance can drop.
