Wednesday, January 11th 2012
New Windows 7 Bulldozer Patches Available.
Very quietly Microsoft has released two new patches available for the Bulldozer platform. According to the AMD blog these patches seem to offer little more then a 10% boost but the do improve over all performance. This is what Adam Kozak a product marketing manager at AMD had to say,
"Some of you may remember that AMD FX processors use a unique dual-core module architecture codenamed "Bulldozer", which current versions of Windows 7 were not specifically architected to utilize. In essence, for those with an AMD FX-8150 Processor, for example, Windows 7 sees the eight available cores and randomly assigns threads to them.
In initial testing of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, we've seen performance improvements of up to 10% in some applications, when compared to Windows 7. This is because the system correctly recognizes the AMD FX processor architecture and cores. Thanks to close collaboration between Microsoft and AMD, Microsoft recently completed back-porting some of the Windows 8 scheduler code for AMD FX processors into a hotfix for Windows 7."
Here are the directions given by Adam Kozak,
So if you have an AMD FX processor, here's what you can do to update your version of Windows 7:
1) Download the scheduler update (KB2645594) and install. This will tell the scheduler that your AMD FX processor contains dual-core modules (in fact this is similar to the SMT path that the other guys use). In essence, threads 1-4 now get assigned to their own module first.
2) Download the core parking scheduler update (KB2646060) and install. This will prevent Windows 7 shutting down unused cores prematurely when there are threads to be assigned (there's a performance penalty parking and then un-parking a core).
The best possible cases for improvement are applications that use ½ cores in your AMD FX processor. In our testing using the AMD FX-8150 processor, we found the best improvement in wPrime, Left 4 Dead 2, and Lost Planet. Below you'll find links to the patches:
Patch 1
Patch 2
Source:
AMD Blog
"Some of you may remember that AMD FX processors use a unique dual-core module architecture codenamed "Bulldozer", which current versions of Windows 7 were not specifically architected to utilize. In essence, for those with an AMD FX-8150 Processor, for example, Windows 7 sees the eight available cores and randomly assigns threads to them.
In initial testing of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, we've seen performance improvements of up to 10% in some applications, when compared to Windows 7. This is because the system correctly recognizes the AMD FX processor architecture and cores. Thanks to close collaboration between Microsoft and AMD, Microsoft recently completed back-porting some of the Windows 8 scheduler code for AMD FX processors into a hotfix for Windows 7."
Here are the directions given by Adam Kozak,
So if you have an AMD FX processor, here's what you can do to update your version of Windows 7:
1) Download the scheduler update (KB2645594) and install. This will tell the scheduler that your AMD FX processor contains dual-core modules (in fact this is similar to the SMT path that the other guys use). In essence, threads 1-4 now get assigned to their own module first.
2) Download the core parking scheduler update (KB2646060) and install. This will prevent Windows 7 shutting down unused cores prematurely when there are threads to be assigned (there's a performance penalty parking and then un-parking a core).
The best possible cases for improvement are applications that use ½ cores in your AMD FX processor. In our testing using the AMD FX-8150 processor, we found the best improvement in wPrime, Left 4 Dead 2, and Lost Planet. Below you'll find links to the patches:
Patch 1
Patch 2
105 Comments on New Windows 7 Bulldozer Patches Available.
What a bother.
Alternatively, just grab it off Regeneration's link, which you've seen.
10% improvement might be quite disappointing, but still, it's better than nothing.
On another note I am seeing some improvements but nothing big.
have 8150 @ 4400mhz
I am re-installing and testing as Idid with the 1st part of the patch....novabench was 11% improvement BTW, just on messing about testing.
Lost 13% on PC mark right enough....a re-install and test will tell me more but truth be told it feels no faster, benchmarks mean little in the real world....will bench a few converting files and some winrar....real world stuff....I would do it now but re-installing is a pest I get 7.7 on processor ...in fact 7.7 through the board until my SSD gives me 7.3.....raid0 soon right enough.
If you have 8 cores working flawlessly together is must be better than sliced bread, Tricky me old son this patch is like a cure it all ....just wait, intels benchmarks are blown away by such a patch.
I mean it must be who can argue with hope.
My WEI is stock BTW, @ 5 GHz is gets 7.9, it would be more but AMD didnt want to frighten the intel lads.
PS anyone want to buy a super powerful FX 8120..... its almost as good as intel but without the "being good" part.
Cant argue with patches improving just about nothing, will swap for a cute micro pig and a plate of ham sandwiches.
and it shows somewhat....
www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q4/cpu2006-20111121-19030.html
www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q1/cpu2006-20110211-14447.html
O6238 @ 2.6GHz(2.9GHz ACTC) 24C/24T: SPECint_Rate: 414, 365(Base)
X5690 @ 3.467GHz 12C/24T: SPECint_Rate: 419, 389(Base)
www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q4/cpu2006-20111121-19042.html
www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q1/cpu2006-20110211-14445.html
O6238: SPECfp_Rate: 340, 318(Base)
X5690: SPECfp_Rate: 272, 265(Base)
In these benchmarks, this is comparing Interlagos 24C vs Westmere 24T both on 32nm(I can't compare Sandy Bridge-E to Interlagos yet because there is no Sandy Bridge-E 2P LGA2011 yet)
What happened was GlobalFoundries cut the plug for 45nm HKMG SOI and started rushing for 32nm HKMG SOI eSiGe
A for this 2 part patch, boosting L4D2 is all good. :D
Just kidding, I already know the answer. I would've put this board to use already if it could.
dunno why all you guys bitchn about, now i can run "......."
So the score indicates 0-10% more performance. Not too shabby for a patch!
Before 47 fps
After 56 fps
So quite nice boost. Ill try some more games after the work
FX-8120 8GB RAM HD6870
1680x1050 all maxed