Due to better utilization of the features of modern processors, Windows 11 usually provides better performance on the same hardware. However, it turns out that the new Windows 11 security features may seriously affect gamers. UL benchmarks, the developers of popular 3DMark, Computer Base, and PC Gamer have been testing Windows 11 and discovered a problem caused by Microsoft’s virtualization-based security (VBS), which in some cases can cause game performance Nearly 30% loss.
The UL benchmarks test pointed out: In our test of the pre-release version of Windows 11, a feature called Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) caused performance degradation. VBS was enabled by default after a clean installation of Windows 11, but it started from Windows 10. Not enabled during the upgrade. This means that the same system can get different benchmark scores, depending on how Windows 11 is installed and whether VBS is enabled.
In the PC Gamer test, they found that the performance loss ratio in Tomb Raider (SoTR) was as high as 28%. However, the results were not consistent. Computer Base found that the loss of Tomb Raider was relatively small. This may be related to the Windows 11 version being tested. Computer Base uses the development channel to build for testing, while PC Gamer uses Beta Build for testing, which is closer to the RTM build version we will see next week.
Microsoft said that VBS uses hardware virtualization capabilities to create and isolate a safe memory area from the normal operating system. Windows can use this virtual security mode to host some security solutions, provide them with greatly increased protection from vulnerabilities in the operating system, and prevent the use of malicious vulnerabilities that try to defeat protective measures.
Hope that Microsoft can optimize this feature more or disable this mainly enterprise-centric security feature by default. UL benchmarks said they will update 3DMark to detect VBS on user systems so that fair performance comparisons can be made.
