Intel has accused AMD of “selling half-truths to unsuspecting customers” using the Zen 2 architecture in some of its latest Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors. In a now-deleted presentation to system integrators, Intel’s “key facts” focused largely on AMD’s Ryzen 5 7520U processor. Mobile and its somewhat confusing and misleading nomenclature.
AMD unveiled a new naming system for the Ryzen 7000 series last year, where the first number denotes the model year, the second the sector, and the third reveals the architecture. At first glance you might look at the Ryzen 5 7520U nomenclature and think it’s a mid-range CPU from AMD, where the 7 means it’s the latest. But the Ryzen 5 7520U is actually based on AMD’s older Zen 2 architecture, not the company’s newer Zen 4.
“Ryzen 5 7520U is built on the legacy Zen 2 architecture released in 2019!” Intel exclaims in its presentation. “AMD’s legacy architecture is hidden in plain sight!” Intel also includes a slide that explicitly compares naming an AMD processor to selling snake oil, a phrase used to describe deceptive marketing.
Luckily VideoCardz I managed to catch The entire presentation before Intel deleted it after press attention this week. Intel’s chipset is the kind of brazen attack on AMD that we haven’t seen in years, but it’s hard to argue against some of the points Intel is making here. AMD’s naming scheme is clearly designed to mislead consumers into thinking they’re getting the latest CPUs in a laptop, as most won’t be aware of what the 2 in 7520U actually represents.
But what Intel doesn’t discuss in its presentation is its own history of confusing processor naming and architecture schemes. Intel launched the Core i9 11900K in 2021, cutting the number of cores from the 10 found in the 10900K to just eight. The confusing move came after years of Intel using the 14nm, 14nm+ and 14nm++ naming schemes for what was effectively a way for Intel to rebrand the fact that it was still on the 14nm process. Intel eventually abandoned the process node naming altogether in 2021, choosing to refer to its 10nm third-generation chips as “Intel 7” instead, so it seemed more competitive next to AMD’s products that were based on TSMC’s 7nm node.
Intel’s attack also comes just weeks after the company released 14th generation desktop processors that look like overclocked 13th generation processors. There are no major architecture changes from the 13th to the 14th generation, just updated chipsets. The main exception is the Core i7 getting more cores, but reviewers have widely criticized Intel for its naming scheme here since this isn’t actually a new generation of desktop CPUs.
None of these deceptive conspiracies stopped Intel from producing its latest presentation, but the widespread attention it received clearly made the company think twice. She disappeared under mysterious circumstances intel.com Yesterday, but everyone knows you You can’t really delete anything from Internet.
“Writer. Friendly troublemaker. Lifelong food junkie. Professional beer evangelist.”