Windows 11 may hurt gaming performance on Ryzen chips, says AMD

Both Microsoft and AMD are working on fixes.

What you need to know

• Windows 11 has features that are designed to make it better for gaming than previous versions of Windows.
• However, the new operating system seems to be struggling with some AMD processors.
• The issues are expected to be addressed before October 2021 ends, though no hard dates have been provided.

The Windows 11 launch continues to fade further and further away in the rearview mirror. And though some of the first wave of Windows 11's best features are dedicated to gaming, it looks like that won't be enough to counteract the fact that the operating system may also be causing some gaming issues of its own. Specifically with Ryzen chips.

AMD has a support page outlining the known issues it's willing to discuss at the current juncture. Here are some key bullet points from the page:

• Applications sensitive to memory subsystem access time may be impacted.
• Expected performance impact of 3-5% in affected applications, 10-15% outliers possible in games commonly used for eSports.

"Games commonly used for eSports" is a bit vague, but you can imagine the variety. CS:GO, Overwatch, and Rainbow Six: Siege all fit that descriptor. And those aren't the only applications affected by the issues.

• Applications sensitive to the performance of one or a few CPU threads may exhibit reduced performance.
• Performance impact may be more detectable in >8-core processors above 65W TDP.

Both AMD and Microsoft are on the case, according to the support page, and fixes for all these issues should be arriving by the end of October. However, exact dates for fixes have not been provided yet. In the event you're on the fence about upgrading and care about maximizing your rig's gaming performance, it may be best to hold off until these issues are resolved.