Although the latency issue with L3 cache in AMD Ryzen running Win11 has already been resolved, an additional issue has arisen that can affect those who have Windows 11 installed on their PCs and wish to upgrade their PC’s processor to a new one. generation of these processors.
Win11 crash while upgrading an AMD processor
According to the folks at Hardware Unboxed via their Twitter account, a strange phenomenon occurs if we update our AMD Ryzen to a newer model or just make a replacement for any other processor compatible with the AMD AM4 socket. What is happening? Well, we will find that the latency with the processor L3 cache will increase to the performance levels before the patch that Microsoft released for Win11 a few days ago, to the point of losing up to 20% in games. .
The only solution? Okay, save the most important data on our hard drive and reinstall the operating system, which becomes a nuisance if, for example, we bought a Ryzen 5000 to replace our Ryzen 3000, since the installation of the Operating system may we take a moment during which we could use our PC.
Lo curioso del problema es que no se trata de un problema con los drivers de la placa base de la propia AMD, sino de la propia Microsoft, ya que recordemos que el parche para lidiar con el problema fue lanzado para Win11 y no ocurre con otros Operating systems.
The importance of L3 cache in Zen
One of the keys to getting the highest possible CPI in a processor is to reduce the latency with the memory, because with less latency then the instructions are resolved before and therefore the average of the instructions resolved per cycle increases, that is. ‘IPC. Cache performance has therefore become very important in new processor designs.
In the specific case of Zen architectures, L3 is a victim cache, which is responsible for adopting the data rejected by the L2 cache and which would go to the main RAM. This way, if they need to be recovered later, it can be done with much lower latency. Therefore, the V-Cache which relies on increasing the amount of L3 leads to an increase in the IPC with a simple increase in the capacity of the LLC processor.
We do not know the details of the Win11 bug with AMD processors, but it is curious that it happens again when updating the processor or replacing it. We don’t think it’s for political reasons, since Microsoft has no reason to fight with Lisa Su’s company, after all they are the providers of the technology for their Xbox consoles and a voluntary boycott of their processors. wouldn’t make sense. .
Is this a serious problem? No, not really as long as it’s resolved by reinstalling Windows 11, but this is something we should point out as we know a lot of Ryzen users are going to be looking to upgrade their CPUs right now.
