Ryzen

Ryzen is a brand of microprocessors designed and marketed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Introduced in 2017, Ryzen marked a major shift for AMD, delivering increased multi-core performance and efficiency and serving as the successor to the AMD FX line for mainstream desktops. The Ryzen family includes desktop CPUs, mobile CPUs, and APUs, as well as the high-end desktop Threadripper line. Desktop Ryzen processors primarily use the AM4 socket, while newer generations shifted to AM5 to support modern features.

Ryzen desktop CPUs are built on successive microarchitectures named Zen, Zen+, Zen 2, Zen 3, and Zen 4, with improvements in instructions per cycle (IPC), core counts, and energy efficiency. Zen 2 introduced PCIe 4.0; Zen 4 introduced PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory support on AM5 platforms. The Ryzen product stack uses model numbers and suffixes such as Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, Ryzen 9, and Threadripper for high-end desktops.

Ryzen Mobile covers laptop CPUs that balance performance and power efficiency, enabling Ryzen processors in thin-and-light and gaming notebooks. AMD also markets Ryzen APUs that pair CPU cores with integrated Radeon graphics on a single die, enabling light gaming without a discrete GPU.

Impact and scope: Ryzen revitalized AMD's competitiveness in the x86 CPU market, delivering strong price-to-performance and multi-core performance compared with competing offerings. The brand has driven AMD's market share gains in desktop and laptop segments and influenced platform ecosystems with features such as PCIe 4.0/5.0 and support for modern memory technologies. The Ryzen lineup continues to evolve with ongoing development of newer microarchitectures and process technologies.