Windows 11 25H2 is not faster than 24H2; why upgrade, then?
Inside the community, there is some buzz about Windows 11 25H2 update. First off, because, in the opinion of many, it was either this version or Windows 12, and secondly, the 2*H2 updates are perceived as a big deal based solely on their release frequency: Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 24H2 to all users on October 1, 2024, almost a year ago.
Microsoft has been downplaying Windows 11 25H2, though, saying it shares the core and architecture with 24H2, comes as an enablement package, which makes installation a breeze, and doesn’t really bring anything new but simply unlocks some features that have already been woven into the fabric of the operating system.
Still, we hoped. Especially those of us who felt their computers struggling with workloads, but not exactly failing. Each major Windows update means optimized, leaner code and, consequently, less stress on the hardware across the board, right? Well, not this time.
Windows 11 25H2 benchmarking results
Windows 11 25H2 has been available in the Windows Insider Release Preview channel since August 29, 2025; this channel is the last stop for a build about to be rolled out worldwide. Naturally, software enthusiasts put it to all sorts of tests once it was within reach.
One of the most respected groups of such enthusiasts runs Phoronix, a website focused on Linux hardware reviews, performance benchmarking, and driver analysis. They have their own performance testing tool, the Phoronix Test Suite, which is a popular solution of this sort in the open-source community and among industry professionals. Thus, Phoronix benchmarks are considered authoritative and trustworthy.
The group clocked Windows 11 25H2 against Ubuntu 25.10, Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, and Windows 11 24H2; all tests with all the compared operating systems were run on a machine powered by AMD Ryzen 9 9950X with 32GB of DDR5 memory.
The results were unsatisfactory for those who expected a boost: Windows 11 25H2 did not perform better than 24H2 in any of the 41 benchmark workloads, which reflected the common “heavy” jobs, from rendering through encoding to scientific computing.
Why upgrade?
The simple answer is “why not?” It’s a free lunch, after all.
On a more serious note, the core reason is consistency and seamlessness of the future update experience: Windows 11 may well see a version that does trump 25H2 in terms of performance, and in order to make the migration thereto smooth, it’s best not to skip 25H2.
Another valid reason is security, as usual: with 25H2 out, Windows 11 24H2 may become the primary target of malware coders seeking to exploit holes that will not be patched as quickly now.
All things considered, there is no harm in moving up to 25H2. And if you’re looking to boost the performance of your computer, consider some of the proven third-party utilities from the Informer catalog:
