Windows 11 is quietly turning on Memory Integrity (and it can cost you frames)
Microsoft confirmed that Windows quality updates will switch on Memory Integrity from October 2026, and independent tests put the cost to games at roughly 2 to 5 percent of average frame rate, with worse results in CPU-bound titles.
Hero image: Tom's Hardware's VBS test setup, with the Core isolation page and System Information showing the feature running.
What Microsoft announced
On 1 September 2026, Microsoft group product manager Peter Waxman published a post called "Expanding memory integrity protection across Windows devices" on the Windows IT Pro Blog. The short version: starting in October 2026, Windows quality updates will begin turning on Memory Integrity on eligible devices where the feature was never manually switched off. Where Virtualization-based Security (VBS) is not already running underneath, the same updates can enable that too.
Three details from the post matter for players:
- The rollout is gradual and eligibility-gated. Windows evaluates each device first, and Microsoft lists hardware capabilities, compatibility, and performance considerations among its readiness signals. No single Patch Tuesday flips everyone at once.
- Devices where a user or administrator already disabled Memory Integrity keep that setting. The update targets the much larger group that never opened Windows Security to touch the toggle.
- Microsoft's post says "October 2026" and nothing more precise. Windows Latest expects the first batch to land with the 13 October Patch Tuesday, which is reporting rather than an official Microsoft commitment.
The eligibility bar Microsoft points to comes from its memory integrity enablement documentation: an Intel 8th-generation processor or newer, AMD Zen 2 or newer, or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8180 or newer, at least 8GB of RAM on x64 systems, a 64GB or larger SSD, virtualization enabled in firmware, and drivers that pass the Memory Integrity compatibility check. One caveat here: that documentation page describes the older clean-install auto-enablement rules, and Microsoft has so far published no separate hardware list for the October update-driven rollout.
What the feature does, and why it can cost frames
Memory Integrity, called Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI) in Microsoft's documentation, moves the kernel's code-signing checks into a memory region that the hypervisor isolates from the rest of Windows. Only kernel-mode drivers that pass signature verification get to load. The security case is real: the setup blocks BYOVD attacks, where malware loads a legitimately signed but vulnerable driver to gain kernel access. Microsoft also positions VBS as the foundation for hotpatch updates, which install without a reboot.
The performance cost comes from where the checks run. Kernel code validation used to happen in the kernel, cheap and local. With VBS active, some of that work crosses a hypervisor boundary and back. Games that hammer the CPU with frequent driver calls, physics ticks, or anti-cheat hooks feel the round trip. A GPU-bound game at 4K mostly does not.
Microsoft itself acknowledged the trade-off in 2022, in a support page that told performance-focused gamers they could disable Memory Integrity and Virtual Machine Platform, with the security cost that implies. That page has since been taken down, as the XDA author who tested the feature in September noted. The 2026 announcement lists "performance considerations" among its readiness signals without putting a number on them.
What independent tests found
No outlet has published a benchmark suite run against the October 2026 rollout itself, because the rollout is still spreading. The available data comes from toggling the feature manually. The three most useful sets:
| Source | Hardware | Method | Result with protection off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom's Hardware, March 2023 | Core i9-13900K, RTX 4090, DDR5-6600 | 15 games, four settings each, 120 comparisons of VBS on vs off | 118 of 120 comparisons improved. Average frame rate up 5.3% at 1080p medium, 2.1% at 4K Ultra. 1% lows up 4.9 to 8.7% on average. Worst single case: Total War: Warhammer 3, 37.7% better average frame rate at 1080p high |
| ComputerBase | Ryzen 7 5800X, RX 7900 XTX | CPU-bound run at 1280x720, HVCI on vs off | Memory Integrity on cut average frame rate about 6% and worsened frame times about 8%, as cited by XDA Developers |
| XDA Developers, 23 September 2026 | Ryzen 5 7600X, RTX 4070 Ti Super | 4 games: two CPU-bound at 1080p Low, two GPU-bound at 1440p High with ray tracing | Average frame rate 1.6 to 2.5% lower with Memory Integrity on. 1% lows were mixed: three games worse by 3 to 6%, Counter-Strike 2 about 5.5% better with the feature on |
Read those numbers with two caveats. Tom's Hardware's run disabled VBS entirely, a broader change than flipping the Memory Integrity toggle, and it used 2023 hardware and drivers. XDA's run is newer and cleaner in scope, but Windows Forum's analysis points out it publishes no run count, no Windows build, no GPU driver version, and has not been reproduced by anyone else.
The pattern across the sets still holds together. GPU-bound scenarios lose little. CPU-bound titles on older processors lose the most, which matches Microsoft's own documentation noting that MBEC (Mode Based Execution Control) hardware on modern CPUs reduces the HVCI cost to roughly the VBS-only level. Digital Trends' September 2026 six-game test, as summarized by Tech Insider, found most gains from disabling the feature were below 3%. This is the same average-versus-tail problem we saw in our own Denuvo benchmark (/news/denuvo-cost-benchmark/): a 2% average loss hides easily, while a 15% hit to 1% lows in a CPU-bound scene reads as stutter.
How to check whether your PC is affected
Two checks, both built into Windows:
- Open Windows Security, go to Device security, then Core isolation details. The Memory integrity toggle shows On or Off.
- For the VBS layer underneath, run msinfo32 and look under System Summary for the "Virtualization-based security" line. "Running" means the hypervisor layer is active.
If a device or game misbehaves after the update, the incompatibility usually traces to a driver. Event Viewer logs blocked or incompatible drivers under Applications and Service Logs, Microsoft, Windows, CodeIntegrity, Operational, where compatibility events carry Event ID 3087. Microsoft's guidance is to update the driver first and treat the toggle as the fallback.
How to turn it off, and what you give up
In Core isolation details, switch Memory integrity to Off and restart. Microsoft states that existing user and administrator decisions remain in effect, so a manual toggle should stop future quality updates from re-enabling it. Managed devices can enforce either state through Group Policy, Intune, or the registry.
The heavier option some guides recommend, bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off, kills the hypervisor entirely. That also breaks WSL2, Windows Sandbox, and anything else that needs virtualization. Most players only need the toggle.
What you trade away: the kernel protection layer that stops unsigned or tampered drivers from loading. Microsoft's 2022 guidance suggested gamers who disabled it for a session should turn it back on afterwards, and BYOVD attacks have been used by real ransomware crews, so the protection is not theoretical. One more group should check before October: anyone who undervolts with ThrottleStop or Intel XTU. Reports link VBS with conflicts for tools that need virtualization disabled in firmware, and a forced re-enable can wipe an undervolt profile at the worst moment.
What we did not test
We ran no benchmarks for this article. Every number above belongs to another outlet and is cited to them inline. We have not reproduced XDA's results, and as far as Windows Forum could find, nobody else has either. We do not know what fraction of devices pass Microsoft's readiness check, because Microsoft has not published that. We also could not trace the widely repeated claim that disabling Memory Integrity improves 1% lows by 15 to 25 percent to any primary source. The closest primary data we found tops out around 15.5%, for Microsoft Flight Simulator's 1% lows in Tom's Hardware's 2023 run. Treat bigger claims with suspicion until someone publishes a methodology.
