AMD’s most powerful processor ever actually runs better on Windows 10 than Windows 11
- New benchmarks show the Ryzen 9 9950X3D runs better on Windows 10
- The chip’s performance is stronger in many of today’s demanding games
- Windows 11 seems to struggle particularly when VBS is enabled
According to benchmarks circulating online, AMD‘s self-described “world’s best processor for gamers and creators,” the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, appears to run faster on Windows 10 than Windows 11.
Spotted by Neowin, testing was conducted by YouTube benchmarker Tech YES City, which found that the 9950X3D performed better on Windows 10 than on Windows 11 for gaming, especially when the operating system’s virtualization-based security (VBS) was enabled.
This is most evident with CPU-bound titles featuring the lowest possible graphical settings, such as CS2 in 1080p. Valve’s latest shooter averages 745fps on Windows 10 but just 729fps on Windows 11; it drops to 710fps with VBS enabled. While we’re only talking about a 2.1% performance difference here, it’s curious that it’s happening at all, as parity would at least be expected between the two operating systems.
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It’s a similar story with Fortnite at its lowest settings in 1080p. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D achieves 591fps on Windows 10 but just 541fps on Windows 11 and loses a further 41 frames with VBS enabled for a loss of 9.2%. It may not seem like too big a deal, but these are competitive games where every frame matters, and if there’s a slight lead in using Windows 10 over Windows 11, this could be problematic at the top level.
Tech YES City’s testing also alleges that Marvel Rivals, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 have similar performance differences when running on Windows 10 compared to Windows 11, urging people to disable VBS for best performance. Considering the processor’s MSRP, you’re going to want to get every penny’s worth of power out of this chip, which doesn’t seem to play as nicely with the latest operating system compared to the previous version.
Strangest of all is the fact that things did not improve with a custom-tuned version of Windows 11 24H2, which still fell behind what a basic fresh install of Windows 10 could do. It’s concerning, given the fact that Windows 10 will be discontinued on October 14, 2025, as security updates will cease, and Windows 11 will be the only option. It may only be a claimed minor lead, but it’s disappointing news, considering the bold claims around the CPU.
A discrepency for one of AMD’s best processors ever
The Ryzen 9950X3D was released yesterday, March 12, 2025, with a retail price of $699 / £699 / AU$1,349 as an enthusiast-class processor, as the second-generation AM5 chipset to utilize AMD’s 3D V-cache. We praised it with a 4.5-star review, citing it was “the best there is” out of the current line of V-cache-enabled CPUs.
In our performance testing, we found that the Ryzen 9950X3D delivers almost best-in-class gaming performance, excelling far beyond the standard 9950X by quite a margin, but losing out (in averages) when compared to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which we said “might be better value for gamers”. This could be a result of only eight of 16 cores having access to the 3D V-cache (split between two pools of 96MB and 32MB for 128MB total) against the 96MB of the 9800X3D.