AMD Zen 6 could improve gaming through per-core performance management
AMD Zen 6 could offer more than another increase in peak clock speed. We received new information from 1usmus, the creator of the HYDRA OC tool for Ryzen processors. According to him, Zen 6 may be able to identify which CPU cores need more performance and which ones can give up part of their power budget.
Instead of pushing every core as hard as possible, Zen 6 could keep higher clock speeds on cores running important game threads. Background tasks would receive fewer resources when the processor reaches its power or temperature limits.
CPPC Performance Priority protects important cores
One of the new features is called CPPC Performance Priority. CPPC stands for Collaborative Processor Performance Control. It allows the operating system and CPU firmware to manage the performance of each core separately.
Another control called FloorPerf sets the minimum performance level for individual cores. When the CPU reaches a power or temperature limit, it could keep important game cores running at higher speeds . Cores handling background tasks could slow down and free some of the shared power budget. This would not increase the processor’s maximum clock speed. It could help important cores maintain their boost clocks while other applications are running.
Preferred Cores gets better frequency data
Zen 6 reportedly adds a new CPPC HighestFreq interface to AMD’s Preferred Cores system. This gives the operating system better information about which cores are fastest and how high each core can boost. A new Low Power Core type could also help the operating system tell the difference between faster cores and cores designed to use less power (keep in mind that Low Power cores are not expected to make their way into the desktop market right now).
What this means is that the operating system could send a game’s main, rendering and audio threads to the fastest cores. Background applications could run on the more power-efficient cores.
Per-core EPP Boost restores clocks faster
Zen 6 may also support per-core EPP Boost. EPP controls whether a processor should favor performance or power efficiency. Game threads often stop working for a brief moment while waiting for the GPU, another thread or the next frame. The CPU core may lower its frequency during this pause and fail to return to a higher speed quickly enough.
Per-core EPP Boost could temporarily switch only the active core into performance mode. This would help the core boost again without forcing the entire processor to run at maximum performance.
An early Steam Deck experiment using a similar software setting reportedly improved 1% low frame rates by 31.8%. This test used an older AMD APU and was not a Zen 6 benchmark.
Bandwidth controls could limit background tasks
Zen 6 also introduces PQOS Global Bandwidth Enforcement and an expanded IBS Memory Profiler. Global Bandwidth Enforcement can limit how much memory bandwidth background threads are allowed to use. The updated memory profiler can provide more details about L3 cache misses and slow memory accesses.
The operating system could use this data to identify background tasks that are affecting game performance. It could then reduce the resources assigned to those tasks. These features could improve frame-time consistency, but only if they are supported on desktop Ryzen processors and used by the operating system.
Zen 6 may focus on stable boost clocks
These features do not automatically increase maximum clock speeds or average frame rates. Their main benefit could be keeping important cores at higher speeds, restoring boost clocks faster and improving 1% low performance while other applications are running.
AMD has not confirmed that all these controls will be offered as one Zen 6 feature. They may also not be available on every Ryzen processor. The information suggests that Zen 6 may focus on using its available power more efficiently. Instead of boosting every core equally, the processor could direct more power toward the cores running the most important workloads.
Many thanks to 1usmus for sharing this information!
