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Meltdown

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Recommendation

Leave as default

Leave the mitigation enabled.

Do not bypass the setting’s hiding and do not disable the protection on the advice for a different CPU generation.

Applicability
Mainly Intel Core
Cost of disabling
Kernel memory read
FPS and memory
See the research

What changes

Section titled “What changes”

Meltdown is a vulnerability of the “reading kernel memory from an ordinary process” class, affecting mainly Intel processors. The mitigation separates the address spaces of the kernel and user programs, so untrusted code cannot directly read protected kernel memory. The BoosterX setting controls this mitigation on supported systems.

The cost of disabling is a return to the vulnerable state: untrusted code running on the system gains the potential ability to read kernel memory, including the secrets of other processes and of Windows itself.

Exceptions and differences

Section titled “Exceptions and differences”

BoosterX hides the setting on an unsuitable processor: on AMD, where the mitigation is not required, and on new Intel generations with a hardware fix — according to the app’s visible description, starting with Whiskey Lake the item does not appear. The absence of the card means the change is not needed on the system.

BoosterX also notes that after microcode updates the mitigation may return, so the state is worth checking periodically. When changed, the app shows a general warning about reduced protection; its warning about EAC and FaceIt anticheats relates to the VBS pages, not to Meltdown.

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. Evaluate the performance impact only with your own A/B test on identical Windows image, microcode and drivers — the result of someone else’s test does not carry over to your system.

How to change and revert

Section titled “How to change and revert”

In BoosterX, open “Optimization” → “Security” → “Microcode and CPU mitigations” → “Meltdown” and move the toggle to the “Off” position: BoosterX will apply the default Windows state with the Meltdown mitigation enabled. Click “Apply” at the bottom of the page; with “Instant apply” enabled, the change is made immediately. To disable the mitigation, the “On” position is used: BoosterX will return the processor to the vulnerable state; restoring the protection is “Off” again. A separate reboot is not mentioned in the setting’s description.

Confirmation

Section titled “Confirmation”

Last check: 2026-09-19.