A new leak reveals that the upcoming Ryzen Z2 A processor is based on the ‘Van Gogh' APU that is used to power the Steam Deck. The Ryzen Z2 processors are designed for use in gaming handhelds, like the ASUS ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go. This APU is extremely capable of handling even some demanding modern games. The successor to this chip is highly anticipated, but one hardware leaker suggests it is based on older silicon.

Leaker Hoang Anh Phu has a previous track record for accurately predicting AMD's plans to update the Ryzen Z2 series. He has now revealed that the updated Z2 A is actually based on the Steam Deck APU, codenamed ‘Van Gogh'.

This means it would use the older RDNA2 architecture, rather than the RDNA4 architecture currently used in graphics cards such as the Radeon RX 9070 XT. We’ve seen similar cut-down versions in handhelds like the Legion Go S, which has variants with the Ryzen Z2 Go chip that reportedly uses RDNA2.

What’s been happening with the Ryzen Z-series?

The Ryzen Z-series has been getting more entries, but the naming conventions are getting somewhat confusing. The A, G, and Extreme versions all have different specifications, and the lineup has a mix of RDNA2, RDNA3, and RDNA3.5 GPU architecture, as well as various parts of the Zen CPU architectures.

Engineers at Valve previously stated that there were no plans for a Steam Deck using the Ryzen Z2 series. Instead, it seems that other handhelds will be getting an updated version of the Steam Deck APU. This seems to be the reason why we saw an ‘Aerith Plus‘ chip appearing in shipping manifests earlier this year. The Ryzen Z2 A is rumoured to be powering a future SteamOS handheld, while the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme is said to be heading to a future version of the MSI Claw. No release date has been specified for either chip.

As usual, until official confirmation from AMD or Valve, these leaks should be treated as speculation and taken with a grain of salt.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.