Windows 11 24H2 & 23H2 Update: How big is the performance increase for Ryzen 7 5800X3D in gaming?

The branch prediction update in test

The first test was carried out on Windows 23H2 including all available recommended updates, the second including the optional performance update KB5041587 (optimized “Branch Prediction”) and the third on Windows 11 24H2 26100.1115 including all available updates from the Windows Insider Program.

In addition, the performance difference between Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) “on” and “off” on both platforms was again determined.

The system was set up and tested as follows:

1. Setting all relevant BIOS settings (memory clock and timing, rBAR, security).
2. Installing Windows 11 23H2 on an empty SSD
3. Installing all available updates for Windows 11 23H2
4. Installing GeForce 556.12
5. Installing AMD chipset driver 6.06.28.910
6. Setting up all games (Steam & Ubisoft Connect)
7. Benchmarks (HVCI active)
8. Disabling Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI)/Memory Integrity
9. Benchmarks (HVCI inactive)
10. Enabling Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI)/Memory Integrity
11. Installing the optional update KB5041587 (AMD optimizations)
12. Benchmarks (HVCI active)
13. Disabling Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI)/Memory Integrity
14. Benchmarks (HVCI inactive)
15. Installing Windows 24H2 Build 26100.1115 from the Insider Program on an empty SSD
16. Installing all available updates for Windows 11 24H2
17. Installing GeForce 556.12
18. Installing AMD chipset driver 6.06.28.910
19. Setting up all games (Steam & Ubisoft Connect)
20. Benchmarks (HVCI inactive by default)
21. Enabling Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI)/Memory Integrity
22. Benchmarks (HVCI active)

Test results

Each of the benchmark results below is based on the average of three runs. If there was an outlier reported by CapFrameX during aggregation, another run was performed.

Performance Rating FPS/Frametimes

The benchmarks on the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X spoke a clear language: Whether patching for Windows 11 23H2 or directly using Windows 11 24H2, the optimizations brought on average about 5 percent more FPS – as much as deactivating HVCI. If HVCI was also deactivated, this about 5 percent was added on top.

The benchmarks on the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D are less clear. What is the same is that switching from Windows 11 23H2 with active HVCI to Windows 11 23H2 with patch/Windows 11 24H2 without HVCI brings about 10 percent more FPS. But how the effect is “divided” between the optimizations and the deactivation of HVCI varies greatly depending on the Windows and the game.

The change from 23H2 to 24H2 did not result in any performance boost in the limited test course, while installing the update for 23H2 increased the FPS and frame times by two and five percent respectively. The increase in FPS would also be greater without Outcast, but the CPU with the “Branch Prediction Patch” installed reproducibly falls significantly behind. The question arises: does the update for 23H2 really contain the same thing in relation to Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000) as in the preview for 24H2? It doesn't seem that way.

Starting from Windows 11 23H2 with patch or Windows 11 24H2, disabling HVCI gives a bigger boost than on the Ryzen 7 9700X.

As the following individual benchmarks show, Outcast: A New Beginning on Windows 11 23H2 with patch is not the only outlier in the test. The extremely good performance of Windows 11 24H2 with deactivated HVCI in Outcast is also surprising – especially since Windows 11 24H2 on its own has no demonstrated advantage there. And in F1 24, neither 24H2 nor the patch for Windows 11 23H2 bring anything, but deactivated HVCI – on the 9700X, both measures had roughly the same effect.

Anno 1800

Baldur’s Gate 3

Cyberpunk2077

F1 24

Horizon Forbidden West

Outcast: A new beginning

Starfield

Conclusion

If you install the update for Windows 11 23H2 or directly Windows 11 24H2 on a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, you will also benefit from the AMD optimizations in the CPU limit when gaming, based on the editorial team's measurement results, but not as clearly and not as consistently. While Windows 11 24H2 hardly reveals any gains, most titles benefit from the update for Windows 11 23H2, as with the Ryzen 7 9700X, but the outlier Outcast ruins an even better result.

Like the Ryzen 7 9700X, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D also benefits from disabling the VBS security feature “Memory Integrity” (HVCI), and tends to do so even more so than the newer Zen 5 CPU.

As luck would have it, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D's performance increase in the rating is around 10 percent over both effects – even with Windows 24H2, where the increase is almost exclusively attributable to the “HVCI effect”.

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