AMD’s just-launched Ryzen 9000 CPUs, as well as some older Ryzen CPUs, are being affected by a Windows user account bug that means the chips are running slower in games than they should, depending on the type of user account you’re using. The AMD Ryzen Windows bug is holding back performance by an average of 4% on the latest Zen 5 Ryzen 9700X, but a fix is on the way, and there are some workarounds for the issue.
The new AMD CPU bug affects what are still otherwise some of the best gaming CPUs you can buy but has been enough to dampen the performance – and thus the reception of – AMD‘s newest chips.
The bug was spotted by several testers, including the likes of Hardware Unboxed and Antony Leather (Forbes), with the former reporting that they saw average frame rates jump from 155fps when using the 9700X with a standard user account to 161fps when using an admin account.
Hardware Unboxed also confirmed the issue affects Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 chips, but with a less severe performance impact. The problem could potentially affect older Ryzen chips too but neither that site nor ourselves have yet had a chance to test this scenario.
While the performance difference is relatively small in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a major misstep for AMD. Thankfully, though, as well as being able to get around the speed reduction simply by using an admin account, AMD has said the problem will be fixed with a future Windows update.
There’s no specific word on whether older versions of Windows are also affected by this issue, with all tests so far being performed on Windows 11 systems.
To fix the Ryzen 9000 Windows bug and enable the enhanced privilege admin user account, follow these instructions:
- Open the command prompt by typing “cmd” in the start menu
- Type net.exe user administrator /active:yes and hit enter
- Log off from your current Windows session
- You should now have the option to log in as an administrator (note, you’ll have to reinstall or setup all your apps/files again just as when you set up any other new account)
For more on what overall performance of the new Ryzen 9000 chips is like, check out our Ryzen 9950X and 9900X launch coverage.