You'll never hear me complain about free performance, but you might hear me complain about performance that was on the table and only slipped in after the fact. That seems to be the case with the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 series chips, which have been underwhelming so far, but can now get some free performance through an optional Windows update.
And it's not just Zen 5 chips that are invited to the party – tests have shown that older Ryzen chips also get a tasty performance bonus.
While we previously reported that Zen 5 chips would gain performance starting with the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 build, you can now install the update in the current 23H2 build (via Wccftech). You don't need to be a “Windows Insider” or any of that nonsense: you can just install the relevant update as usual.
To be clear: It is still a optional Update. As AMD tells Wccftech, this means you need to go to Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional Updates. There you can install the KB5041587 update. This should improve branch prediction of not only the 9000 series processors, but also the 5000 and 7000 series.
This complicates AMD's message a bit in my opinion, as AMD had hinted in a previous blog post that branch prediction for Zen 5 chips would be improved with a Windows update. This was mentioned in response to the backlash against Zen 5's lackluster performance, which did not meet AMD's original performance claims.
The problem is that much of this backlash has revolved around CPU performance claims compared to Intel chips, but some of it has been about the performance of the AMD 9000 series compared to the 7000 series. While this update is a new boost for all AMD chips, it still doesn't mark a major generational improvement.
Negatives aside, however, this performance boost in absolute terms is welcome news. While changes to branch prediction are unlikely to improve performance in heavily multithreaded or purely single-threaded environments, we can expect significant improvements in many tasks, including gaming.
![AMD Ryzen 7 9700X vs. 7700X: 40+ gaming benchmark [23H2 vs. 24H2] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/rlfTHCzBnnQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
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And to be clear, these improvements have been mentioned by various outlets before. Hardware Unboxed found double-digit percentage improvements in gaming performance for not only the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, but also the Ryzen 7 7700X. This is in line with AMD's claims, as the company told Ars Technica that the update can improve the 9000 series' speed by 0-13%. Hardwareluxx, on the other hand, found that performance improved on many titles, but stayed the same or decreased on some.
Overall, it looks like this Branch Prediction Update should improve gaming performance on the Ryzen 5000, 7000, and 9000 series. If I were using one of these chips, I would start installing it immediately.
