back to article Gamers who find Ryzen 9000s disappointingly slow are testing it wrong, says AMD

AMD has responded to community concerns about underwhelming gaming performance of its Ryzen 9000 Series desktop processors by attributing disappointing results recorded by independent testers to the vagaries of their system and software setups. One factor in the complex interplay of technical variables is that AMD conducted …

  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Real gamers...

    ...are waiting for the X3D models. Or just giving up and buying a 7000 series X3D now.

    But this still isn't a good look, especially if it requires an unreleased update to an unpopular OS to optimise.

  2. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

    I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

    Doesn't encourage upgrading enough I have to say. Is it unreasonable these days to expect a newer processor to run faster, regardless of operating system? It used to be the optimisation was generally application specific, rather than OS specific

    1. Eecahmap

      Re: I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

      Maybe this processor series is the new Itanium.

    2. JoeCool Silver badge

      This is clickbait

      Amd have been pretty transparent and accurate in their internal benchmarking, since before ryzen.

      Any benchmarker knows that deviations are quite often due to differences in the benchmark (specific games in this case) as well as various hw os and game settings.

      To claim that one set of benchmarks is "reality" but another set isn't, is just trying to get attention for a normal and predictable finding. at a minimum they need to look for other factors before declaring "amd is lying".

      And "who doesn't run games in admin mode" ? just the part timers that are ok going slow, i guess. if that's a setting needed for speed, then use it !

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Re: This is clickbait

        Why does Admin mode make a notable difference? I thought that administrator mode was there to allow a program full access to the system (hardware, settings, etc), so I don't quite understand why does this appear to also effect execution speed?

        1. b1k3rdude

          Re: This is clickbait

          dosent matter that it does, NO user should be using it due doing so is a significant security risk.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: This is clickbait

            What do you mean it doesn't matter that it runs faster in the Admin account. If there was a 50% performance hit between using the admin account and not, are you saying it wouldn't matter to you? If not, where do you stop caring with this performance difference? It does matter, why does it run faster, what has Microsoft done to impact performance for users when not running with the admin account. Is UAC and all the redirections that they do for writes to system locations impacting performance so much as to slow the system down this much?

        2. Mike007 Silver badge

          Re: This is clickbait

          Every API call needs to check permissions. I suspect IsAdmin() is a lot faster than ScanPermissionsTableAndCompareACLs()

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: This is clickbait

            Except admin doesn't have all the permissions.All accounts are checked the same.

        3. rg287 Silver badge

          Re: This is clickbait

          Why does Admin mode make a notable difference?

          Apparently there's some branch prediction code that's only available in admin mode. I don't know the details of why but presumably because there's something a bit Spectre-y in there that's a potential security risk and you'd only let trusted code use it. More aggressive branch prediction could allow some CPU-bound processes to run quicker.

          The upcoming release of W11 appaently makes that improved branch prediction available in user-mode (presumably with protections).

          1. Midnight

            Re: This is clickbait

            > (presumably with protections).

            I admire your optimism.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: This is clickbait

              "> (presumably with protections).

              I admire your optimism."

              "... with protections" does not mean that those protections *work*, just that they are there !!!

              There are *many* protections in all versions of 'Windoze', just that over time more and more are found to not work anymore ... or perhaps never did to the people in the know (Hackers/crackers and other ne'er-do-wells).

              :)

    3. JoeCool Silver badge

      Re: I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

      That's not what is being reported.

      And technically, all opptimizations are cpu specific.

    4. DJO Silver badge

      Re: I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

      Is it unreasonable these days to expect a newer processor to run faster

      Actually, kind of yes. Most of the development is increasing the number of cores and better optimization of the cores but unless software is written to take advantage of more cores it'll not run any faster.

      Newer CPUs can efficiently multitask more processes than an older CPU but it might not run those individual processes any faster. A new i7 may have 8 cores, a i7 from around 6 years ago had 2 cores running at the same speed as 6 of the cores on the new one.

      1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

        Re: I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

        Dude, can you please not selectively quote parts of my post to make the opposite point?

        What I said was

        'Is it unreasonable these days to expect a newer processor to run faster, regardless of operating system? It used to be the optimisation was generally application specific'

        What I'm questioning is if it is unreasonable to expect, with application changes only, to receive a performance advantage when the linked data seems to be requiring an OS update.

        I suppose that even before modern P and E cores going way back the introduction of hyperthreading slowed some processes down if the application/OS wasn't hyperthreading aware, but it was at least possible to disable it in the BIOS so this could be worked around.

    5. 9Rune5

      Re: I'm presuming this won't arrive for Windows 10

      Is it unreasonable these days to expect a newer processor to run faster, regardless of operating system?

      If I understood Wendell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eY34dwpioQ) correctly, not all cores perform the same. When running a game, you want to prioritize which cores do what.

      It feels iffy... If a game employs a dozen threads, how can you predict that two of the threads do most of the grunt work and should run on your two best performing cores..?

      The chaotic results (some games run faster on X, others do the opposite) suggests that there is no generic way of doing this. Maybe each game ends up with a manifest that declares what optimizations are expected. (sigh)

      I suspect the casual gamer will not be affected (they'll want the UHD eye candy). At least nobody claims these particular CPUs are slowly grilling themselves.

      Bottom line, for me, I think I'd be totally fine with one of the 9000-series Ryzens. I'd like some more cores than what I have in my 2700X, but it will all be good.

  3. chuckufarley Silver badge
    Boffin

    Software Optimization...

    ...Is the future. Someday all workloads will be optimized on the fly for the platform on which they are running. We are not there yet. True benchmarks shouldn't be optimized at all in this day and age. Not for a GPU, CPU, OS, or anything else. This is the only way to be fair. However brands want their names in lights so we will see things like this from time to time.

    This is just an iteration in the evolution of both software and hardware. In the future the most successful software will be that which can self optimize to the largest number of hardware stacks.

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Software Optimization...

      While bloated inefficient code should be nuked from space...

      ... shouldn't the processor attempt to optimise for itself, like out of order execution or something? Because if programmers/compilers are going to have to optimise for specific types of processor, then this means that either performance will start to suck for other processors that require different optimisations, or it'll become a nightmare of tangled linguine trying to have a program flow that attempts to work "best" for several different types. For example if this Windows update provides better results with the AMD chip, how does that affect Intel devices? Or older AMD, come to think of it?

      1. David M

        Re: Software Optimization...

        All modern processors optimised for themselves, with out of order execution, executing multiple instructions in parallel, elaborate branch prediction, all manner of caching, etc. I think the problem is one of diminishing returns - we've got so clever at all of this optimisation that further improvements require increasingly complex hardware and only give marginal benefits.

    2. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

      Re: Software Optimization...

      You can have workloads optimized for your specific CPU right now if you want. It's called Gentoo.

      I use Ubuntu now but used Gentoo for a good number of years. Every package compiled for the specific CPU it's running on.

  4. kuiash

    Gimme Linux/Compute

    Seriously. I'm a Linux hack and I want raw compute performance and, according the Phoronix, that's just what I'll get. Smoke me a kipper...

    https://www.phoronix.com/review/amd-ryzen-9950x-9900x/15

    1. Zibob Silver badge

      Re: Gimme Linux/Compute

      And like many others with this launch.

      ... I'll be back for Christmas.

      1. parrot

        Re: Gimme Linux/Compute

        What a guy.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Testing with what's actually available is not exactly testing it wrong.

    If there are CPU specific drivers needed to take advantage, not in circulation, then of course downstream benchmarks will be different.

    I'll be looking forward to GamersNexus and others redoing their benchmarks once the software releases to confirm/deny AMDs claims.

    My money is on the reviewer, not on the marketing exec.

  6. b1k3rdude

    "...are waiting for the X3D models. Or 'maybe' just giving up and buying a 7000 series X3D now."

    Same, but as there is nothing technbically wrong with my current system, I am quite happy to wait untill January, worst case the 7800x3d will be even cheaper by then..

    But man, AMD, do they never fcuking learn like. They keep making these easily avoidable mistakes..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm sat on a 5950X, and barring things falling out of firmware updates there is absolutely NO rush to upgrade... The recent security findings and patches being extended back to the 3000 series does put a timeline on roughly when one might expect the firmware to dry up for current release.

      I cannot complain, AMD have produced good quality and relatively long-lived products in the main. If the 9000 is a small, incremental improvement only that's fine, it's an easy upgrade skip.

    2. Boothy

      Also sitting this out for a little bit longer.

      Built an AM4 system back in 2019 with a 3800X.

      Looked at AM5 when it released, but switching at the time, which would have needed new CPU, motherboard and RAM, and this just wasn't financially viable in my mind with cost vs the performance bump (no AM5 X3D out yet at that time, and the new RAM was very expensive back then).

      So I dropped a 5800X3D into the existing AM4 system in Sept 22 instead. Which is what I'm still using now and so far in no rush to switch to AM5.

      I might have a look again when the 9800X3D (or whatever they call it) drops. But I think my next purchase will be replacing the GFX card anyway (RX 6900XT atm, which is decent enough for now).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        With you on that. Video card will be the next major swap. 4-5 yr old Radeon 5700XT still perfectly adequate for most things.

      2. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

        Longevity

        It's nice that AMD gives rheir sockets some longevitiy. Back in the day I used socket 7 for many years, and socket A (athlon/duron) socket. it was nice to be able to pop in a newer cpu, not find out the socket had been changed 2 or 3 times in the interim.

  7. ilmari

    Is there anywhere details on how drivers can change CPU branch prediction? I thought it was intrinsically part of the CPU independent of software?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      At least Techpowerup.com initially reviewed the new AMD CPU's and a few days later followed up with a "found the missing speed" article where they disabled SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) and the performance was better in applications which don't scale with the core count.

      The AMD/Intel CPU drivers tell optimization hints to the Windows kernel internal scheduler. They can among other things inform the preferred cores, preferred core combinations for better heat distribution and to inform which cores are for performance (P) and which are the low-power efficiency (E) cores so that games and such are not handicapped by the slow cores which don't have SMT. Maybe the functionality also extends to instruct the scheduler to NOT prefer SMT.

  8. Rich 2 Silver badge

    And if you’re not using windows?

    The article talk’s about a software update to windows to improve branch prediction (which to be honest, I’m confused about because surely that’s a feature of the processor, not the OS?!)

    But where does this leave you if you’re not using windows?

  9. Brave Coward

    Does branch prediction...

    ... have anything to do with your processor getting hung ?

  10. The Dogs Meevonks Silver badge

    Hardware unboxed retested the CPU's with the administrator mode... and found that all of the gains they found with the 9xxx series.... also improved the 7xxx series by about the same amount.

    It's almost as if AMD looked at the strife intel are kicking up with their failed handling of the 13/14th gen oxidizing vias... and went... here HOLD MY BEER

    I'm laughing with my 5800X3D and 6900XT... I reckon I'll get a decent GPU upgrade in before that CPU becomes a bottleneck for anything... certainly not planning a rebuild before 2026 now.

  11. Alan Mackenzie

    Well, I just got myself a new machine about a week ago, with a Ryzen 7900. I was betting that there would be problems with the new generation of processors, and the speed gain wouldn't be that much anyway. Maybe I was right on the second count. But perhaps I could have got myself a cheaper processor by waiting for the older generation to fall in price. Nah, not worth the bother!

  12. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Windows

    There's no Crysis.

  13. Lee D Silver badge

    So are we going back to the days where to get a game to work in Windows it has to be run as an administrator?

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