Cyberpunk 2077 Does Not Leverage SMT on AMD Ryzen, Lower Core-Count Variants take a Bigger Hit, Proof Included
Cyberpunk 2077 does not leverage simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) on AMD Ryzen processors, according to multiple technical reviews of the game that tested it with various processors. The game does leverage the analogous HyperThreading feature on rival Intel Core processors. While this doesn't adversely affect performance of higher core-count Ryzen chips, such as the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X or to a lesser extent the 12-core 5900X, lower core-count variants such as the 6-core 5600X take a definite performance hit, with PCGH reporting that a Ryzen 5 5600X is now matched by a Core i5-10400F, as the game is able to take advantage of HyperThreading and deal with 12 logical processors on the Intel chip, while ignoring SMT on the AMD one.
CD Projekt RED may have bigger problems on its hands than performance optimization for a PC processor, such as the game being riddled with glaring performance issues on consoles; but in the meantime, the PC enthusiast community swung to action with a fix. Authored by chaosxk on Reddit, it involves manually editing the executable binaries of the game using a Hex Editor, which tricks the game into using logical processors as cores. This fix has been found to improve frame-rates on AMD Ryzen machines. Before attempting the hex edit, make sure you back up your original executables. The screenshot below provides a before & after-patch view of Cyberpunk 2077 loading a Ryzen 9 5950X. You can learn more about this fix, and a step-by-step guide here.Update 08:28 UTC: We have some technical details on what's happening.
CD Projekt RED may have bigger problems on its hands than performance optimization for a PC processor, such as the game being riddled with glaring performance issues on consoles; but in the meantime, the PC enthusiast community swung to action with a fix. Authored by chaosxk on Reddit, it involves manually editing the executable binaries of the game using a Hex Editor, which tricks the game into using logical processors as cores. This fix has been found to improve frame-rates on AMD Ryzen machines. Before attempting the hex edit, make sure you back up your original executables. The screenshot below provides a before & after-patch view of Cyberpunk 2077 loading a Ryzen 9 5950X. You can learn more about this fix, and a step-by-step guide here.Update 08:28 UTC: We have some technical details on what's happening.