Bad news, AMD fans: This week's Windows 11 update didn't fix your performance woes (they may be worse)

A new patch next week might

Windows 11 received its first bundle of fixes this week, but AMD users hoping for respite from performance issues that have dogged their PCs were to be disappointed. In fact, for some, performance might have actually got a bit worse.

It wasn't the news AMD fangirls and fanboys were hoping for. After AMD noted performance issues with Microsoft's latest operating system, a fix had been expected to drop during October. Alas, that fix didn't turn up in this week's first Cumulative Update for the GA code. In fact, according to hardware site TechPowerUp, things might have even deteriorated.

TechPowerUp noted that the L3 cache latency of a Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, normally 10ns (but 17ns in Windows 11) jumped to 31.9ns after the update was applied. There's no avoiding the fact that that is a huge jump, and one that could leave power users gnashing their teeth in distress.

The site also pointed to industry talk that a further patch to fix the L3 latency woes is scheduled to land on 19 October via Windows Update.

The Register asked Microsoft to confirm this and will update if the software giant responds.

However, talk of a fix were not the only mutterings on Reddit concerning the patch and AMD kit. One Redditor noted that latency already tended to swing quite wildly depending on workload: "Nothing changed pre or post patch yesterday." The poster also highlighted latency under Windows 10 hovered between 9.4 and 10.1ns while Windows 11 was anywhere from 12 to 34ns.

So we'd have to say the jury is somewhat out over whether this week's cumulative patch really made things worse or not. Our advice would remain the same. If AMD power use is your thing, it's probably best to hang fire on Windows 11 for a bit, just until things settle down.

As another Reddit poster put it: "I learned my lesson a very very long time ago with windows ME (yeah I'm old), don't upgrade your Windows OS for at least 6 months after first release. A year is probably better." ®

Updated to add on 18 October

Microsoft has pushed out build 22000.282 of Window 11 to its happy band of Windows Insiders on the Beta and Release Preview Channels. Topping the long list of fixes is an apparent resolution of the L3 caching issue. Should all go well (and let's face it, when has Microsoft ever shipped software that its unpaid testers reckon is a bit buggy?) then the fix might hit before October is out. We will report back once the final code makes it to GA installations, and smiles have returned to the faces of AMD-based gamers currently looking glumly at their frame-rate counters.