Ryzen 10 and 100: AMD perfects the name chaos – and sells the old as something new

You could almost take it for a joke, but AMD is obviously serious: with the “new” Ryzen 10 and Ryzen 100 series, the manufacturer is taking the final step towards total disorientation in the CPU jungle. Anyone who previously thought that the Ryzen nomenclature was confusing can now look forward to a new level of confusion, including the rebranding of old APUs, spruced up with fresh names but tried and tested technology from the mothballs.

Let’s start with the lower end of the performance scale: The new Ryzen 10 Series consists of models such as the Ryzen 3 30 and Ryzen 5 40, which are nothing more than relabeled Mendocino APUs based on the Zen 2 architecture – yes, the very ones that were already on the road in 2022 under the Athlon 7020 label. The whole thing is combined with RDNA 2 graphics, which is sufficient for simple office and streaming notebooks, but nothing that should be sold as “new” in 2025 with a clear conscience. The Ryzen 100 Series is even more brazen: AMD recycles its Rembrandt APUs with Zen 3, formerly known as Ryzen 7 6800H or 7735H, now nicely relabeled as Ryzen 7 170 or similar fantasy numbers. Here, too, the RDNA 2 graphics unit is still at work, quite solid, but nothing that deserves to be called “new generation” in any way. Anyone who believes that this provides clarity will be disappointed: AMD is currently selling products with Zen 2, Zen 3, Zen 4 and Zen 5 at the same time, garnished with graphics solutions from RDNA 2 to RDNA 3.5 and in some cases all under the same serial numbers (Ryzen 300, 200, 100, 10). Anyone who doesn’t regularly mill through the depths of technical data sheets will be mercilessly misled here.

It’s no surprise that AMD is going down the rebranding route here; Intel has been doing it for years, as has Nvidia. New names are easier to market, old stocks can be sold off more elegantly, and OEMs love “new” series for their product catalogs. From the consumer’s point of view, however, this is a diplomatic capitulation to transparency: it no longer matters what’s inside, but only how it sounds. And that is a dangerous trend, especially in the price-sensitive notebook market.

Mendocino (Zen 2)
Athlon Silver 10
Athlon Gold 20
R3 30
R5 40

Rembrandt (Zen 3+)
R3 110
R5 130
R5 150
R7 160
R7 170

— Gray (@Olrak29_) October 26, 2025

Conclusion

What remains is a double-edged sword: if you look closely, you can still find useful hardware, and the Rembrandt APUs in particular offer solid performance per watt. But if you are dazzled by the name “Ryzen 170” or “Ryzen 5 40”, you risk buying technology from the day before yesterday at yesterday’s price with the illusion of tomorrow.

A rogue who suspects bad intentions here, but anyone who buys a Ryzen 100 today will at best get 2022 technology with a 2025 price tag.

Source: Olrak29_viaX