Microsoft is finally pushing out the Windows 11 update that solves AMD’s performance problem
Now’s a good time to check for Windows 11 updates.
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Microsoft has released a cumulative update (KB5007215) forWindows 11, and with it, AMD can finally put the ropey performance at launch to bed. The fix for the L3 Cache problem has been resolved, and should now be rolling out to machines everywhere, along with security updates and patches for other Windows 11 problems.
AMD had previously released fixes for the problem, aswe reported at the end of last month, but these are now baked into the operating system itself. This should mean that a lot more AMD users have access to their chip’s true performance, and won’t need to apply any more updates from AMD or Microsoft.
There’s a short video onMicrosoft’s support sitethat goes over what’s in the patch, and the L3 cache problem that affects AMD’s poor performance is the first up. There’s not a lot of detail on offer here, simply that, “An L3 caching issue where some devices withAMD Ryzenprocessors experience application performance issues” and that it has now been resolved.
Another problem that has been resolved is an issue with the new Start and taskbar not working properly after upgrading from Windows 10.
This is a problem I’ve seen first hand. Despite my main PC running the Windows 11 insider preview without issue, on performing the upgrade to Windows 11, I couldn’t use the Start menu at all and the Taskbar was dead too.
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I solved the problem by creating a new user account, which essentially performed a clean install, so it’s good to see that Microsoft has resolved this for others.
Windows 11 should offer the update automatically unless you’ve paused updates for some reason—in which case now is a good time to do a manual check.
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Microsoft does appear to be solving the launch problems quickly enough, but Windows 11 still isn’t in a state where we’d recommend everyone upgrades to it just yet. For that, we’d recommend waiting until the first major update, which is expected in spring 2022.
Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He’s very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.
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