How To Know if Your PC Supports AVX

AVX, or Advanced Vector Extension, has proven to be a breakthrough technology for computers. However, very few users are aware of its benefits, and it is quite uncommon in the computer world.

You can increase the performance of your CPU by using AVX instructions since they can process more double-precision operations per clock cycle.

This means you won’t have to suffer in games because you’re getting low frame rates. I used to experience these issues while playing heavy games on my PC. However, after activating AVX, my CPU started running extremely well. And I was able to see major performance gains on my computer.

You’ll be able to unleash the full potential of AVX on a high-end workstation working on large-scale heavy applications. AVX has the ability to enhance the processing speed without utilizing any extra computational power.

This article will walk you through everything you’ll need to know about AVX. If you are wondering if your PC supports AVX, run your way through this guide, and you’ll get every answer you’re looking for. So, without further ado, let’s head right into it.

Contents

Info About AVX

AVX was made available with the launch of AMD’s Bulldozer and Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor families. AMD released its Bulldozer range in the third quarter of 2011, after Sandy Bridge chips hit the market in the first quarter.

In 2013, we saw the release of AVX2, an upgraded version of the AVX instruction set. They were released alongside the Haswell and Excavator processor families from Intel and AMD, respectively. The AVX instruction set was later enhanced in 2016 to allow up to 512-bit SIMD registers. However, support for the powerful Xeon Phi “Knights Landing” CPUs wasn’t added until 2016.

Nowadays, the majority of consumer-grade CPUs support AVX and AVX2, with only high-performance processors providing AVX 512.

What Is the Purpose of AVX?

It is made for applications that employ floating-point computation because it is highly computationally intensive and vectorizable. Examples of applications include software for manufacturing and engineering, image and video editing, financial services analysis and modelling, and audio processing and audio codecs.

How To Check If My CPU Supports AVX

To find out if your PC supports AVX, press the Windows key, seek for “Windows System Information,” and then check for your CPU model in the pop-up box to find out if your CPU supports AVX. Then, check the manufacturer’s website to see if your CPU model supports AVX with the help of the model number.

AVX, developed by Intel, is one type of advanced vector extension. Modern applications require this additional processing capacity for processing large amounts of data, which is why these additions are necessary.

Check AVX Support for Windows

You have two options for activating this feature when you wish to use AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) on your machine to improve performance: using the Windows command prompt or by using Windows system information.

I’ll provide you with some accurate and simple instructions on how you can check the AVX compatibility and support on your Windows computers in this article.

The following are the steps you can follow to verify AVX support using System Information:

Click on the Windows button, and then type in System Information.
From the pop-up window, try locating your CPU model number.
Go ahead and copy this CPU model number. Open your web browser and paste the number into Google.
Next, you must visit your CPU manufacturer’s website.

Let’s say your CPU is AVX-compatible. Good for you! You must proceed with the next section to make this functionality available on your system. Only one command at the command prompt will turn on this feature for you on your system, and you’ll be able to enjoy the enhanced performance.

Follow the steps below to enable AVX on your Windows system while using the command prompt:

Launch the Windows Command Prompt in admin mode. You can do this by pressing the Windows button and typing cmd.
Next, go ahead and type bcdedit/set xsavedisable 0. Remember that you must not set this value to any other number besides zero.

Once you’re done with these steps, you’ll be good to go. A successful message will be displayed, indicating that you’ve completed the process correctly.

Check AVX Support: Linux

If you are a Linux user playing heavy games on your computer, you may face troubling performance if AVX has not been enabled on your system. To avoid any circumstances of such a type, I will show you how you can check whether the CPU on your Linux system supports AVX or not.

Once we have that figured out, we’ll also take a look at how you can enable it on your computer.

You can follow the steps below to enable AVX on a Linux computer:

Launch the root terminal by clicking on Ctrl + T.
Use the following command to update your package: sudo apt-get update
Once done, follow this command to install the MKL package: sudo apt-get install libmkl-dev libmkl-avx

Check AVX Support – Using Third-Party Software

There are multiple third-party programs that let you check for AVX support. However, most of them are not reliable. Therefore, you are advised to download HWiNFO-64, which is probably the best software for this job.

If you are using a high-performance server-grade system, your system also probably has support for the AVX 512 instructions set. By using HWiNFO-64, you can easily verify if your system supports AVX. To download this software, visit the following link: https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

Follow the steps below to check whether your system supports AVX using HWiNFO-64:

Launch your web browser and type in the download link given above. Or simply just click on it as it will take you to the download page.
After the download is complete, go ahead and install it. Once done, a pop-up window will be displayed.
In this window, you must leave Sensor-Only and also Summary-Only.
Once done, click on “Run.”
Now the software will detect your system configuration. Let it perform this process.
Once HWiNFO has gathered all the information, you will be greeted with a system summary window.
You must now check out the features panel. You’ll find multiple features here, and you’ll be able to tell if your CPU supports AVX or not.

By following these steps, You can get an idea of all the features that are supported by your processor, including AVX.

The AVX Support Processor List

The AVX feature was brought to the market by Intel for the purpose of optimizing their CPU for the best performance possible. AVX will help boost the performance of your processor, helping increase game and software performance on your computer.

I will now provide you with the list of processors that support AVX or AVX2. If your processor is not present on this list, you’ll be missing out on the AVX feature.

AMD Processors List

AMD Zen 3 (2020)
AMD Zen 2 (2019)
AMD Zen + (2018)
AMD Excavator (2015)
Ryzen 5 3600 (2019)
AMD Steamroller (2014)
AMD piledriver (2012)
AMD Bulldozer (2011)

Intel Processors List

Intel Sandy Bridge (2011)
Intel Sandy Bridge (2011)
Intel Ivy Bridge (2012)
Intel Ivy Bridge (2012)
Intel Haswell (2013)
Intel Broadwell (2013)
Intel Skylake (2015)
Intel Skylake (2015)
Intel Broadwell E (2016)
Intel Kaby Lake (2017)
Intel Skylake -x (2017)
Intel Coffee Lake (2017)
Intel Cannon Lake (2017)
Intel Whiskey Lake (2018)
Intel Cascade Lake (2018)
Intel Ice Lake (2019)
Intel Comet Lake (2019)
Intel Tiger Lake (2020)
Intel Rocket Lake (2021)
Intel Alder Lake (2021)
Intel Nukes Alder Lakes (2024)

VIA Processors’ List

VIA Eden X4
VIA Nano QuadCore

Zhaoxin Processors’ List

WuDaoKou KX-5000 and KH-20000 SKUs

AVX Offset and How It Works

Essentially, workloads that deal with numerous independent data points simultaneously can be run in parallel. The rationale behind such an expansion is the accelerated workloads that demonstrate a lot of data-level parallelisms.

Image processing is an example of that, since it allows for the independent modification of individual pixels within an image. Vector extensions have the potential to greatly increase productivity across all relevant jobs. Many professional workloads can make use of AVX, but not all workloads can.

AVX units themselves consume a lot of power and produce a lot of heat despite having good performance. They can significantly impact how much power your CPU uses when they are active. The AVX offset is useful in this situation.

When overclocking, you might not want your AVX units to operate at the same speed as your primary CPU core. Due to the substantial power consumption of these components, you might choose to operate your AVX units at a slower pace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ryzen have AVX?

The Ryzen CPU that has AVX support was the Ryzen 5 3600. However, after April 20, 2024, no AMD processor will support AVX.

How do I enable AVX on my CPU?

The steps to enable AVX on your CPU differ based on the processor and operating system. We have mentioned the entire process. You can also use a third-party application like HWiNFO-64 to enable AVX.

What are AVX instructions in the CPU?

The x86 AVX extension speeds up several floating-point computations (very dramatically). The use of AVX on a home server will largely affect video transcoding in that environment. It can help improve the performance of a heavy server-grade application and various games.

Wrapping It Up

Although the AVX feature is not as important as core count and clock speed, it can still greatly improve the performance of your processor.

We have described the complete process through which you can check and enable AVX on your processor if present. If you would rather use a third-party application to do it for you, you can try out HWiNFO-64, as mentioned in the article.

Hopefully, after going through this entire article, you will have found the answer to all your queries related to AVX. Now, you can easily enjoy launching heavy applications and software on your computer.

Info About AVX

What Is the Purpose of AVX?