Intel roasts AMD's confusing CPU lineup, compares it to selling snake oil

Intel has published a PDF playbook where it tries to "enlighten customers" on how AMD's latest processors are not what they seem to be. Intel is dunking on AMD's mobile offerings, namely the Ryzen 7020 series and its complicated branding schema. The "blue camp" compares the Zen 2-based Ryzen 5 7520U to snake oil, claiming "there's a long history of selling half-truths to unsuspecting customers."

AMD often continues using older technology to offer customers more affordable products, a great strategy for those with tight budgets or those who do not need the latest and greatest. The problem is that the recent rebranding, besides being confusing, makes the old tech look like new. Intel's "Core Truth" points fingers at that approach, roasting the Ryzen 5 7520U for being built on the dated Zen 2 architecture from 2019 and trying to look like a more advanced product from 2022.

Intel compares the Ryzen 5 7520U with the Core i5-1335U and its 83% better score in the cherry-picked CrossMark benchmark developed by BapCo (this might not be the most unbiased metric as AMD and NVIDIA had both accused the firm of favoring Intel in the past), highlighting that "the latest does not always mean the latest."

The company implies that an unsuspicious customer may falsely assume that the Ryzen 5 7520U is the most recent product only because it has the number 7 in its name, just like the latest AM5 CPUs. In reality, only the third number indicates the architecture. Intel says the truth is hidden in plain sight (an Orange sticker might also help) but also very hard to spot at the same time.

Here is how to decipher AMD's cryptic processor names:

• The first number stands for the release year: 7 - 2022, 8 - 2023, 9 - 2024, etc.
• The second number indicates the market segment: 1 and 2 - Athlon, 3 and 4 - Ryzen 3, etc.
• The third number points at the architecture: 2 - Zen 2, 3 - Zen 3, 4 - Zen 4, etc.
• The fourth number is for feature isolation: 0 - lower model, 5 - upper model.
• The letter indicates the TDP and form factor: U - ultrabooks, HS - gaming, etc.

Therefore, you can translate the Ryzen 5 7520U as a mid-tier Zen 2-processor released in 2022 for ultrabooks with 15-28W TDP.

AMD positions its Ryzen 7020 processors at budget-friendly devices with more advanced iGPUs and education markets. Intel counters the argument by claiming that "the future of education and learning depends on the latest technology," and adding that the Intel Core i3-N305 offers faster performance in benchmarks and music or photo editing.

You can check out Intel's "Core Truths" PDF on the official website (via @momomo_us).

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