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VBS incl. HVCI in Windows 11: Current benchmarks for performance loss in games

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With Windows 11, Microsoft has pushed the use of Virtualization-based Security (VBS). At the start in 2021, only their “core isolation” component was automatically active, but this also applies to “memory integrity” (HVCI) if the platform can do it. New benchmarks show how much performance this costs.

Table of contents

  1. VBS incl. HVCI in Windows 11 at a glance
  2. More security costs performance
  3. Current benchmarks in the CPU limit
  4. Conclusion

VBS incl. HVCI in Windows 11 at a glance

When Windows 11 was launched in autumn 2021, the editors already had a comprehensive article on the topic of Virtualization-based Security (VBS) with and without active “Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity” (HVCI). titled Windows 11 & 10: Dedicated to VBS performance loss benchmarks including HVCI. The core statements are still valid today, but two general conditions have changed:

  1. When Windows 11 started, the main requirements for using VBS including HVCI (CPU virtualization) in the BIOS were still switched off at the factory on many mainboards.
  2. Windows 11 21H2 as the first release switched HVCI on computers on which all requirements were met, not automatically active.

Things will look different at the beginning of 2023: If you set up a new system with Windows 11 22H2 on a modern platform from AMD (AM5) or Intel (socket LGA 1700) with the latest BIOS, you can install an operating system that supports virtualization-based security ( VBS) including HVCI uses. The editors would appreciate information about exceptions to this rule in the comments.

Whether HVCI is active can be understood in Windows 11 as follows: Memory integrity must be active behind Settings, data protection and security, Windows security, device security, core isolation details – if it is not active, HCVI is off.

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  1. This is the way to set the “memory integrity” in Windows 11.

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This is the way to set the “memory integrity” in Windows 11

More security costs performance

ComputerBase also worked out in the article a year and a half ago that HVCI costs performance and that this particularly affects games in the private sphere. The fact that “memory integrity” on CPUs that do not support Mode-based Execution Control (MBEC) can even significantly cost performance, Microsoft had persuaded it to explicitly name CPUs from AMD Zen 2 and Intel Kaby Lake that are officially compatible with Windows 11.

Recently, however, the topic had become quieter again and only a few publications on the subject of gaming performance provided any information about the status of VBS and/or HVCI in the benchmarks. This information is absolutely necessary, especially when different platforms are compared with each other, as the following current benchmarks show.

Current benchmarks in the CPU limit

Because VBS including HVCI is now standard on new platforms, ComputerBase has the latest CPU game tests for Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D already carried out across platforms with fully activated VBS and this is also explicitly mentioned.

On the AM4 platform used for Ryzen 5000, the CPU virtualization still had to be activated manually even with the latest BIOS – and that was forgotten at the beginning. The Ryzen 7 5800X went through the gaming test course once with active core isolation, but without active memory integrity, before the astonishingly good measured values ​​first caused astonishment and then led to HVCI being switched on (by activating CPU virtualization in the BIOS). Without planning it, the tests of the new X3D CPU produced cutting-edge benchmarks on the impact of the security function in the CPU limit.

Specifically, the Ryzen 7 5800X loses in Interaction with a Radeon RX 7900 XTX 6 percent in FPS and 8 percent in frame times when memory integrity (HVCI) is active.

The benchmarks were created in the maximum CPU limit in 720p (details on the settings), so the impact would be smaller with more load on the GPU. But considering the fact that scenarios in the CPU limit are used to assess the performance of CPUs in games, the effects are undoubtedly still considerable: On average, switching between inactive and active HVCI quickly has a greater impact than many CPU swaps .

Performance rating, RX 7900 XTX

9 entries Edit Performance rating, RX 7900 XTX – AVG FPS Inflow charts All None < ul>

  • Age of Empires 4 – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, average
  • Call of Duty Warzone 2 – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, average

    • < li>Cyberpunk 2077 + RT – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average

  • Dead Space – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Diablo 2 Resurrected – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Dota 2 – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Forspoken – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Fortnite – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Ghostwire Tokyo – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Resident Evil Village – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Spider-Man – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • The Callisto Protocol – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • The Witcher 3 – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average
  • Uncharted – 1280×720, RX 7900 XTX: FPS, Average

    • Unit: percent 9 entries Edit performance rating, RX 7900 XTX – percentile -FPS Inflow charts All None

    Unit: percent

    In this case, too, the extent to which the “Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity” has an effect on the performance in the CPU limit in games depends entirely on the Game on: Titles like Forspoken hardly react to it on the Ryzen 7 5800X, but in Diablo II: Resurrected the frame times drop by over 30 percent.

    1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    18 entries Age of Empires 4 – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Call of Duty Warzone 2 – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Cyberpunk 2077 + RT – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Dead Space – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Diablo 2 Resurrected – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Dota 2 – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

  • FPS, 1% percentile:
    • AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
      VBS on, HVCI on186.7
    • Intel Core i9-13900KS
      VBS an, HVCI an155,3
    • Intel Core i9-13900K
      VBS on, HVCI on154.8
    • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
      VBS on, HVCI on150.1
    • AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D
      VBS an, HVCI an148.9
    • Intel Core i7-13700K
      VBS on, HVCI on148.4
    • Intel Core i5-13600K
      VBS on, HVCI on143.3
    • AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
      VBS on, HVCI an140.3
    • AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
      VBS on, HVCI on134.1
    • AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
      VBS on, HVCI on128.8
    • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X – HVCI off
      VBS on, HVCI off106.2
    • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
      VBS on, HVCI an104,5

    • Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Forspoken – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Fortnite – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Ghostwire Tokyo – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Resident Evil Village – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Spider-Man – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries The Callisto Protocol – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    unit : Frames per second (FPS) 18 entries The Witcher 3 – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS) 18 entries Uncharted – 1,280 × 720, RX 7900 XTX

    Unit: frames per second (FPS)

    Conclusion

    The fact that VBS including HVCI provides more security, but costs performance, is nothing new, but more than a year after the last article on the subject, it was time to point this out again – even if the trigger in this case happened to be “wrong “ tested processor was.

    First of all, more and more users are using such a setup because Windows 11 runs on new platforms with these security mechanisms ex works. And secondly, the effects in the absolute CPU limit are still so great that at least in articles on the subject of CPU gaming performance, it is imperative to clarify which VBS component was active on which platform.

    In practice, which will be characterized by the GPU limit for most gamers in most games, the effects are smaller. But anyone who has good reason to base their gaming CPU purchase decision on 720p benchmarks must also be aware of the effects of the additional security features in Windows 11.

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