Microsoft Releases AMD Bulldozer Performance Update for Windows 7

Anyone hoping that AMD would manage to make Bulldozer chips much faster on Windows 7 systems may want to give up on that lofty wish. 

AMD has just posted a blog announcing the availability of a scheduler update for the Windows 7 operating system. 

The hotfix was developed by Microsoft, based on the Windows 8 scheduler code. 

Unfortunately, the performance benefits only amount to 1-2% on average, not to the 10% that AMD claims to have seen during initial testing of Windows 8. 

Also, not every application got a performance boost in AMD's tests, especially the heavily-threaded ones which use all 8 cores of the AMD FX-8150. 

This is explainable by the fact that such programs are “already maxing out the processor.” 

“Our testing shows that not every application realizes a performance boost. In fact, heavily threaded apps (those designed to use all 8 cores), get little or no uplift from this hotfix – they are already maxing out the processor. In other cases, the uplift averages out to a 1-2 percent uplift,” says Adam Kozak, a product marketing manager at AMD. 

This news may turn out to be somewhat disappointing after the events of December, 2011. 

Sometime in mid-December, Microsoft posted a patch that supposedly boosted Bulldozer performance in Windows 7. 

It was quickly taken down and, about a day later, AMD actually expressed surprise at the event, explaining that there were, in fact, working on two patches, but neither of them were ready. 

Though it probably didn't please the Sunnyvale, California-based company that it had to disclose information prematurely, it ended up revealing that the two-piece hotfix would be ready by the first quarter of 2012. 

Sure enough, the new blog post from Advanced Micro Devices now points towards a scheduler update (KB2645594) and a core parking scheduler update (KB2646060). 

The boost isn't spectacular, but it is free, so there shouldn't be any reason not to get it.

NOTE: If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of the support page. If the section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Posted in: Hardware, News, Review, Software