Skip to main content

AMD Ryzen 6000 could be the world’s first 6nm desktop processor

 

Having beat out rivals Nvidia and Intel in the race to 7nm, AMD is pushing for an even smaller node when it launches its yet-to-be announced Ryzen 6000 chipset. The company’s leaked product road map suggests that AMD’s next-generation Ryzen 5000 APU — code-named Cezanne — will debut in 2021. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 6000 APU — code-named Rembrandt — will arrive in 2022 with a 6nm node.

Recommended Videos

Rembrandt will be part of AMD’s 6th-generation Ryzen product lineup and will succeed Cezanne, which is expected to arrive in 2021. If the leak posted by Twitter user @Komachi is accurate, there will be a number of notable upgrades with Rembrandt, including AMD’s move to a smaller 6nm manufacturing process. This APU will likely be manufactured by TSMC with a new Zen 3 Plus processor architecture, delivering better energy efficiency and more performance uplift over the standard Zen 3 platform.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Since Rembrandt is an APU, the graphics side will use AMD’s new RDNA 2 graphics architecture. In addition to supporting ray tracing, RDNA 2 is expected to deliver a big graphics boost. AMD is said to be skipping RDNA 1 as it upgrades from Vega cores straight to the RDNA 2 graphics architecture on Rembrandt.

Other features include support for DDR5 memory, LPDDR5, USB 4.0, and PCIe 4.0. Unfortunately, AMD will be abandoning its AM4 socket when Ryzen 6000 debuts, moving to the newer AM5 platform, so a new motherboard will be needed for those wishing to upgrade from an existing Ryzen platform to Rembrandt.

According to the product road map, AMD will launch its Ryzen 4000-based APU, also known as Renoir, for desktops in June. After Renoir, AMD will be working on its Cezanne APU, which will feature Zen 3 processor architecture and a Vega graphics core. Cezanne will be divided into a higher-performance product family, which will go by the Cezanne-H branding and a low-powered chip denoted by Cezanne-U. Like previous members of the Ryzen family, the Cezanne lineup is expected to support the AM4 socket, making upgrades easy.

On the CPU side, we can expect to see major performance uplifts, though specifics were not reported on Wccftech. The graphics of this APU will be driven by an enhanced Vega GPU. Earlier leaks suggested that Cezanne will be paired with RDNA 2 graphics, but Wccftech now speculates that the APU will instead continue to rely on the older Vega cores, with RDNA 2 support relegated to systems with discrete graphics in 2021.

When will these come out? The APU will likely be announced at CES 2021 and a launch could happen by Computex 2021. In terms of the overall APU road map, we can expect to see Renoir this year, Cezanne next year, and Rembrandt in 2022.

For low-powered systems, AMD is also said to be prepping its Van Gogh chipset to compete against Intel’s Y-series processors. Van Gogh is described as a custom system on a chip (SoC) comprised of Zen 2 processor cores and RDNA 2 graphics with a maximum TDP of 9 watts. This low-powered SoC is expected to launch sometime in 2021.

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Sources zero in on the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D launch date
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D processors have had their launch schedule up in the air for some time.

Having first been unveiled at CES 2025, there have been many rumors circulating about the components. However, a new report suggests that the release of the upcoming CPUs is now more locked in. AMD’s new chips should be available in just a few weeks, with reviews of their performance going live the day before release, according to VideoCardz.

Read more
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D accounts for nearly all Zen 5 sales
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

Recent sales data from German retailer MindFactory highlights a striking trend in AMD’s Zen 5 CPU lineup, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D accounting for nearly 90% of all Ryzen 9000-series sales. The latest figures indicate that consumers overwhelmingly prefer this gaming-optimized processor over other models in the lineup.

In January 2025, MindFactory recorded 25,625 total CPU sales, with AMD capturing 92.16% of the market—equivalent to 23,615 units. Intel, by contrast, managed to sell just 2,010 processors, reinforcing AMD’s dominance in the consumer market.

Read more
AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Go disappoints in early benchmark
The Lenovo Legion Go S sitting on a window.

A recent YouTube video has showcased the gaming capabilities of AMD's upcoming Ryzen Z2 Go chipset, designed for budget gaming handhelds. As part of the new Ryzen Z2 lineup, the Z2 Go’s capabilities were tested on a Lenovo Legion Go S and compared to last year’s Z1 Extreme powering the Asus ROG Ally X.

According to gaming performance data shared by FPS VN, the Z2 Go shows some limitations compared to the Z1 Extreme. In Black Myth: Wukong, it achieved 36 fps versus 40 fps at 15W, 30 fps versus 32 fps at 20W, and 60 fps versus 64 fps at 30W. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Z2 Go delivered 50 fps compared to 54 fps at 15W, 45 fps versus 47 fps at 20W, and 61 fps compared to 66 fps at 30W. Similarly, in Ghost of Tsushima, the Z2 Go hits 62 fps versus 66 fps at 15W, 48 fps versus 52 fps at 20W, and 62 fps versus 66 fps at 30W. Although the performance gap is minor, it remains consistent at around 7–10% across all tested games.

Read more