Windows 11’s major 24H2 update includes a significant overhaul of the driver rendering model, which brings significant benefits in terms of accelerating Neural Processing Units (NPUs) and GPUs.
This new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 3.2 comes with the 24H2 update and a Microsoft support document, spotted by Windows Latest, describes several driver-related improvements being implemented.
This WDDM update will focus primarily on NPU optimizations, for devices with an NPU on board, of course, including Copilot+ PCs (a fast NPU is a requirement for the latter). This means faster AI processing, so features like Recall – the controversial supercharged search functionality that Microsoft has temporarily shelved – or other AI workloads, run faster. It will also deliver GPU-related measures that can improve gaming performance.
Copilot+ PCs help you fly higher
WDDM 3.2 is expected to come with a lot of goodies in terms of taking steps forward in powering the NPU. A set of features highlighted by Windows Latest promises to improve the performance levels of some AI tasks, making them run smoother, and the Neural Processing Unit will achieve better power efficiency during these tasks. The latter could mean a Windows 11 laptop’s battery life getting a little longer.
Microsoft is also implementing a “dirty bits” tracking feature, which will speed up data transfer speeds when migrating virtual machines between two systems.
It’s not all about AI, though. PC gamers can also expect a number of GPU-related optimizations with WDDM 3.2. Windows Latest again points to a number of potential benefits, including the suggestion that it could help with lag issues (although we’d take that with a fair amount of patience).
Apparently, we can expect smoother frame rates and overall performance while gaming thanks to WDDM 3.2, but it’s unclear exactly how much of an impact we can expect. So, as always, temper your expectations.
You can see the … full details of all changes related to WDDM 3.2if you’re curious, because there have been a lot of improvements made here. Windows Latest has also created a handy table which explains how various driver-related improvements for both AI and gaming will improve your PC’s performance when Windows 11 24H2 arrives. However, in many cases, these may turn out to be relatively minor improvements – we’ll have to wait and see when the time comes.
Note that certain AI features (like Recall) will unfortunately only be available to Copilot+ PCs – though all Windows 11 PCs will get the 24H2 update and these WDDM 3.2 improvements when the major upgrade rolls out later this year. Copilot+ PCs are of course the machines with the most powerful NPUs, and thus will benefit the most from the AI-related tweaks that WDDM 3.2 applies – which perhaps makes for a more compelling argument for AI with these machines.
So far, Microsoft’s push into AI hasn’t exactly been well-received by users, with Copilot especially struggling to establish itself on the Windows 11 desktop (and Windows 10, for that matter).