Does Windows 10 v1903 boost AMD Ryzen performance? Not really

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windows 10 AMD Ryzen benchmark tests

The Windows 10 1903 May Update is the latest major operating system update brought by Microsoft.

Alongside the many new features, fixes and improvements promised to the community, there is one in particular that got the gaming community really excited.

AMD Ryzen processor owners were pleased to hear that the latest update to Windows 10 makes better use of the AMD Ryzen multi-core processors.

Together with a new driver update, this could mean increased performance, especially during gaming sessions.

All is nice in theory but hold your horses

Tests done on various benchmark programs, including 3DMark, showed the update to provided significant improvements to the overall gaming experience of Ryzen users.

Some estimations reported an improvement of up to 15%.

Professionals have done a few tests to see if the entire hype is justified, only to be disappointed by the results: the Windows 10 1903 May Update brings next to no improvement during real-life gaming sessions.

The differences between the two updates are so small they were within the margin of error.


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How is that possible?

It’s been some time since the May Update has been launched and any user who had been eagerly waiting for the updated probably already applied it on their PCs.

Some of them seem to be reporting that the update does indeed bring a noticeable performance boost to their games.

However, professional testers concluded that the most plausible explanation as to why users reported improved gaming performances is that the update itself probably fixed some Windows errors they may have had with their previous Windows versions.

The games simply behaved as they would with a freshly installed operating system.

What about the reported 15% on 3DMark?

Tests were done on several high-profile games to see how the well the 1903 update behaved, including Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Rage 2 or Rocket League, as well as common household programs such as WinRAR or Adobe Premiere.

In none of the tests were there any improvements outside the acceptable margin of error (between 1-2%).

Seeing as users are mostly interested in real-life results rather than theoretical ones, the only conclusion would be that 3DMark was bugged with the previous versions of the Ryzen drivers, or that there is a current bug with the latest version of Windows.

Have you noticed any performance improvements on Windows 10 while gaming? Do let us know in the comments below.

If you’re an avid gamer, you may also want to check out these lists:

More about the topics: AMD Ryzen, Windows 10 May 2019 Update