Windows 7: Microsoft Releases AMD Bulldozer-Boosting Hotfix

Hey, Bulldozer fans: if you’re regular readers of the site you may remember that we told you a few months back that AMD expects to see better performance for its FX chips in Windows 8, as the company claimed that Windows 7 didn’t handle simultaneous multithreading efficiently. Turns out they were right! Kind of. Windows 7 didn’t handle simultaneous multithreading efficiently, but you still might not see a performance jump in Windows 8 – because today, Microsoft released a hotfix to correct the problem and help Bulldozers run better on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

We've spoken with an industry source familiar with this situation, and it appears the release of this hotfix was either inadvertent, premature, or both. There is indeed a Bulldozer threading patch for Windows in the works, but it should come in two parts, not just one. The patch that was briefly released is only one portion of the total solution, and it may very well reduce performance if used on its own. We're hearing the full Windows update for Bulldozer performance optimization is scheduled for release in Q1 of 2012. For now, Bulldozer owners, the best thing to do is to sit tight and wait.

sdunnin

December 15, 2011 at 8:58pm

Has anyone been able to get this yet, and if so how? I tried chatting with an MS customer service agent this evening and got this information

Agent: I do apologize however, for us to send the Hotfix that we need, we would need the help of our Professional Support team.
Agent: Please contact them at 800-936-4900 from Monday - Friday 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time.
Agent: They are handling concerns in processing request for the said Hotfix.

Currently, the CPU scheduling techniques that are used by Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not optimized for the AMD Bulldozer module architecture. This architecture is found on AMD FX series, AMD Opteron 4200 Series, and AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors. Therefore, multithreaded workloads may not be optimally distributed on computers that have one of these processors installed in a lightly-threaded environment. This may result in decreased system performance for some applications.

When this update is installed, Bulldozer modules will be less likely to achieve the C6 power state. This potentially results in increased power consumption in more lightly-threaded environments.

Important If you apply this update, you cannot revert the settings by uninstalling this update. This update should only be installed on computers that have KB2645594 installed.