There's no need to wait. The AMD CPU performance update in Windows 23H2 is available now. Even Zen 3 and Zen 4 processors should benefit.

You won't hear me complain about free performance. But you may hear me complain about performance that has been left on the table, and then shimmied into after the fact. This is the case with AMD Ryzen 9000 series chips. They have been disappointing so far, but can now gain some free performance through an optional Windows update.

It's not only Zen 5 chips that have been invited to the party. Testing has shown that older Ryzen processors are also getting a tasty performance boost.

You can now install this update in the current Windows 11 23H2 version (via Wccftech). No need to be a Windows Insider or anything like that: Just install the update as normal.

It's still an optionalupdate. AMD told Wccftech that you will need to go to Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional updates. You can install the KB5041587 there. This update should improve branch prediction for not only 9000-series but also 5000-series, and 7000 series processors.

AMD's messaging is a bit complicated, in my opinion. In a previous blog, AMD claimed that branch prediction for Zen 5 chips would be improved with a Windows upgrade. This was done in response to criticism of the Zen 5's lacklustre performance, which didn't match AMD’s original performance claims.

While much of the backlash was centered around Intel's CPU performance claims, some of it was centered around AMD 9000-series performance as compared to 7000-series . If this update is a rising wave for all AMD processors, it still won't be a significant improvement.

This performance boost is a welcome one, despite the negative spin. While branch prediction changes are unlikely to improve performance for heavily multi-threaded tasks or purely single threaded tasks, we can expect significant improvement in many tasks including gaming.

These improvements have been noted by many outlets. Hardware Unboxed reported that the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and 9700X both showed double-digit percentile gains in gaming performance. AMD has also claimed that the update will improve speeds in the 9000 series by 0-13%. Hardwareluxx found that performance improved in many titles, but remained the same or decreased in others.

This branch prediction update is expected to improve the gaming performance of Ryzen 5000, 7000, and 9000 series chips. If I were running one of these processors, I would install it immediately.