A Chiphell contributor has published a flyer advertising an alleged Alienware desktop with AMD's yet-to-be-announced Ryzen 9000-series processor. This could be a typo on Alienware's side, a forged picture, or AMD could be close to introducing its next-generation Ryzen 9000-series CPUs for desktop PCs. Whatever the case, we need to spread a healthy dose of salt on this revelation.
Given the fact that AMD is set to announce Zen 5-based Ryzen processors for desktops and Zen 5-powered EPYC CPUs for servers in 2024, it is possible that the company will reserve Ryzen 9000 branding for Zen 5 parts. What is a bit surprising is that AMD's partner Alienware is already talking about these CPUs, which leads further credence that this is just a typo on behalf of the PC maker. Meanwhile, if AMD announces its Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000-series at CES, it is about time for Alienware to start teasing its systems based on these CPUs.
Yesterday, an unofficial source claimed AMD is prepping Ryzen 8000-series desktop accelerated processing units (APUs) based on Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores with built-in RDNA 3 graphics. The company is also expected to release Ryzen 8000-series offerings for laptops with Zen 4 and Zen 4c-based designs, so it looks like AMD's Ryzen 8000 lineup will still be based on Zen 4 or older technology. That said, inserting high-end Zen 5-based CPUs into AMD's Ryzen 8000 lineup is illogical.
AMD has a somewhat convoluted strategy when naming its Ryzen series. The company has used a mix of microarchitectures within one generation of Ryzen several times. For example, the Ryzen 7000 family includes Zen 4, Zen 3, and Zen 2-based products.
Meanwhile, to ensure enthusiasts receive the correct messaging about all-new hardware, introducing the Ryzen 9000 for Zen 5 seems like the best course of action for AMD.
