Downfall
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Recommendation
Leave as defaultKeep protection enabled.
Disabling for an unverified gaming gain is not recommended. A laboratory comparison must be performed on an isolated system and must end with protection restored.
- Applicability
- Certain Intel Core
- Cost of disabling
- Inter-process data leak
- FPS and memory
- See the research
What changes
Section titled “What changes”The setting controls the Downfall (Gather Data Sampling) mitigation — a hardware vulnerability in certain Intel processors that allows one process to read another process’s data through internal CPU buffers. The mitigation closes this channel on supported systems; disabling removes the protection for a possible gain in workloads that actively use the affected instructions.
The cost of disabling is a possible inter-process data leak on a vulnerable CPU: another or a malicious process could potentially read protected data from memory, including keys and passwords.
Exceptions and differences
Section titled “Exceptions and differences”The mitigation applies only to certain generations of Intel Core — according to the BoosterX description, these are processors from Skylake to Tiger Lake. On AMD and on newer Intel processors the setting is absent: BoosterX hides the card on unsuitable hardware, and the absence of the item means the change is not needed for the system. The card also disappears when Windows closes the vulnerability with its own update.
When changing it, BoosterX shows a warning that the setting may degrade system protection. The app’s warning about EAC and FaceIt anti-cheats is shown on the VBS pages, not here; for Downfall only the general protection warning is visible.
How to verify the result
Section titled “How to verify the result”After the change, check the position of the toggle in BoosterX: the state of the card corresponds to the applied choice. Check the performance impact with a separate test in your workload — the impact of the mitigation depends on the instructions used, the microcode and the CPU.
How to change and revert
Section titled “How to change and revert”In BoosterX, open “Optimization” → “Security” → “Microcode and CPU mitigations” → “Downfall” and move the toggle to the “Off” position: BoosterX will apply the default Windows state with the Downfall mitigation enabled. Click “Apply” at the bottom of the page; with “Instant apply” enabled, the change is made immediately. To disable the protection, the “On” position is used: BoosterX will remove the mitigation; to restore the protection — “Off” again. A separate reboot is not mentioned in the setting description.
Confirmation
Section titled “Confirmation”- BoosterX security settings research: applicability only to Intel and the security risk are confirmed.
- Intel: Gather Data Sampling
Last check: 2026-09-20.