Windows 11 23H2 gets performance optimizations for AMD CPUs out of the blue
Windows 11 users with Ryzen 7000 or Ryzen 9000 processors can get some purportedly huge boosts in PC games right now, as work to seriously optimize AMD CPUs has landed in the OS sooner than expected.
As Tom’s Hardware observes, the latest optional update for Windows 11 23H2, which is KB5041587, actually packs the necessary improvements to branch prediction code for modern Ryzen CPUs (from the Ryzen 5000 series onwards, we’ve been told previously) that have been tested in Windows 11 24H2. Those boosts are to the tune of 10% on average, based on extensive tests run by Hardware Unboxed.
The 24H2 update is, of course, still only in preview (with the slight complication that a version is live with Copilot+ PCs only, though it isn’t the fully finished 24H2). It wasn’t expected that we’d get this change until 24H2 arrived for everyone later this year, but we’ve suddenly got it backported and live on Windows 11 23H2 now.
However, there is an obvious caveat, namely that this optional update for 23H2, KB5041587, is also only in preview – so there may still be wrinkles to iron out.
AMD tells us: “We expect the performance uplift to be very similar between 24H2 and 23H2 with KB5041587 installed.
