AMD Says New Patches Fix CPU Issues On Windows 11

The chipmaker says a new Windows 11 software update addresses an L3 cache latency issue that could reduce performance in certain applications and games while a separate AMD chipset driver package fixes thread scheduling issues that also impacted performance.

AMD said two issues that were reducing the performance of its CPUs on Windows 11 have been fixed with new patches that were issued Thursday.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said a new Windows 11 software update addresses an L3 cache latency issue that could reduce performance in certain applications and games while a separate AMD chipset driver package fixes thread scheduling issues that also impacted performance.

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AMD said in a support page on its website that the two patches “fully” resolve the issues, which the chipmaker reported in early October shortly after the official launch of Windows 11.

The chipmaker previously said one issue caused the L3 cache latency to roughly triple, which slowed down latency-sensitive applications by 3-5 percent. For PC games that are commonly used for esports, the performance impact was reported as much worse: a 10-15 percent reduction.

The other issue revolved around the CPU not assigning threads to the fastest core, which hurt performance for single- and multi-threaded applications. The company said that CPUs with eight or more cores had more of a noticeable impact.

Randy Copeland, CEO of Velocity Micro, a Richmond, Va.-based system builder that sells gaming PCs and professional workstations, previously told CRN that he isn’t surprised that CPU performance issues are being reported in the early days of Windows 11.

“We believe it’s going to be a pretty small blip,” he said earlier this month. “We think it’ll be over in a month or two, long before a lot of people get a chance to upgrade to Windows 11. And that’s mostly not going to be noticeable unless you’re benchmarking.”