AMD Ryzen
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 16 processors by recommenders
People recommend AMD Ryzen for strong performance per dollar and efficient integrated graphics on desktops and laptops. Critics point to firmware updates that removed features after sale.
People recommend AMD Ryzen for strong performance per dollar and efficient integrated graphics on desktops and laptops. Critics point to firmware updates that removed features after sale.
37 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1.4 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong performance per dollar
“The current NVIDIA and AMD GPUs cannot compete in FP64 performance per dollar or per watt with Zen 5 Ryzen 9 CPUs”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 on Hacker News “in general it looks like AMD despite using an older process node is doing fairly good”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Linuxulator on FreeBSD Feels Like Magic” “Ryzen is the better choice anyway”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage” Scales well across segments
“If AMD didn't do their best job then we're still stuck with the norm of 4 cores”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Cloud VM benchmarks 2026: performance/price for 44 VM types over 7 providers” “AMD has really hit the jackpot with how scalable the Ryzen CPU is”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?” Efficient, capable integrated graphics
“CPU with 10x computing power, powerful integrated GPU, that idles at 1W”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “DIY NAS: 2026 Edition” “The APU from AMD they have is pretty much magic”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “I don’t need a Steam Machine” Reliable for consumer use
“I've had zero issues with AMD's consumer tier of non-WX Threadripper and Ryzen models”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “10% of Firefox crashes are caused by bitflips” “I have no complaints from them.”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Firmware updates removed features after sale
“If you want to strip something from things we bought after the purchasing, you must ask me and every other customers for consents beforehand.”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “AMD will reinstate memory encryption on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via BIOS update in July” “They shouldn't have had to reinstate it to begin with, but it's good to see the pressure campaign worked.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “AMD silently removes memory encryption from consumer Ryzen CPUs” “the feature I needed from a hardware product I bought suddenly vanished in a firmware update”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “AMD silently removes memory encryption from consumer Ryzen CPUs” - Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “AMD will reinstate memory encryption on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via BIOS update in July”
- Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “AMD will reinstate memory encryption on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via BIOS update in July”
- Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “AMD will reinstate memory encryption on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via BIOS update in July”
USB problems
“five generations into its processor family still hasn't been able to figure out how to have USB work properly and reliably”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “AMD will reinstate memory encryption on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via BIOS update in July” “they still can't get USB to work properly all the time?”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “BarraCUDA Open-source CUDA compiler targeting AMD GPUs”
Other processors people recommend
The four most recommended other processors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple M5 | 48 | 14 | 77% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 44 | 14 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD RyzenThis page | 25 | 12 | 68% | 11 | 1.4 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Intel N150 | 21 | 1 | 95% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Apple M4 | 21 | 5 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
36 of the 40 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“AMD had a useful-ish naming scheme for Ryzen but then they had to fuck up their mobile chip names.”
“Nothing wrong with Ryzen for a server, you can get AM5 server boards from Asrock and they support ECC”
“I wouldn't use Ryzen on a production server myself.”
“AMD had Ryzen from the ashes and struck a blow to the long dominant Intel.”
“AMD has really hit the jackpot with how scalable the Ryzen CPU is”
“hard locks when resuming from suspend sometimes”
“Or just get an AMD Ryzen.”
“They shouldn't have had to reinstate it to begin with, but it's good to see the pressure campaign worked.”
“If you want to strip something from things we bought after the purchasing, you must ask me and every other customers for consents beforehand.”
“patching the firmware to retroactively remove things from devices that were sold years ago”
“five generations into its processor family still hasn't been able to figure out how to have USB work properly and reliably”
“Their DDR5 interface is gimped, being slower than Intel now, and still limited to dual channel.”
“Physical hardware products shouldn't lose features after launch”
“they shouldn't have done it secretly to begin with”
“Ridiculous because AMD built their reputation off of avoiding BS market segmentation like this.”
“they are adversarial to you, the users of AMD cpu”
“the feature I needed from a hardware product I bought suddenly vanished in a firmware update”
“was the leader for secure memory encryption for consumer while no competitor provided it”
“I have no complaints from them.”
“Ryzen and RADEON all the way.”
“Most miners use AMD Ryzens.”
“a desktop PC using an AMD Ryzen CPU”
“If AMD didn't do their best job then we're still stuck with the norm of 4 cores”
“I've had zero issues with AMD's consumer tier of non-WX Threadripper and Ryzen models”
“My 5 year old Ryzen laptop can transcode 4k faster than realtime”
“They can just buy a regular Ryzen 9000 series CPU, then.”
“in general it looks like AMD despite using an older process node is doing fairly good”
“M* is terrific. And so are the latest from AMD Ryzen.”
“The current NVIDIA and AMD GPUs cannot compete in FP64 performance per dollar or per watt with Zen 5 Ryzen 9 CPUs”
“they still can't get USB to work properly all the time?”
“You don't get 22 hours of battery life out of a Ryzen laptop.”
“AMD is already serving that segment, and quite successfully, too”
“The Ryzen CPUs seem to be designed to spike as high as whatever thermal limit you configure with Precision Boost Overdrive.”
“CPU with 10x computing power, powerful integrated GPU, that idles at 1W”
“Ryzen is the better choice anyway”
“The APU from AMD they have is pretty much magic”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.