Not only is the Zen 3+ alive and well, but new rumors have surfaced that it will be paired with RDNA 2 graphics for AMD's Ryzen 6000 Rembrandt APU. We have been waiting for some time for AMD to release an update to the graphics core of its APU lineup, and if this turns out to be true, it would be a serious all-in-one package with the potential to play games at proper frame rates and resolutions.

The latest rumor comes from ExecutableFix, who tweeted on May 8 that Rembrandt is using RDNA 2, with up to 12 compute units (CUs). This follows an April 30 tweet in which he said Rembrandt would use TSMC's Zen 3+, which uses TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process.

A few weeks ago we reported that a refresh to Zen 3, aka Zen 3+, had disappeared from AMD's roadmap, at least with respect to its mainstream CPU lineup (codenamed Warhol). The refresh was expected to take place in the fall, but another potential Zen 3+ refresh, namely AMD's APU lineup, never materialized.

Unlike Intel, which has integrated graphics on most of its chips, AMD has reserved integrated graphics for its mobile and desktop APU lines. To date, these APUs have stuck with AMD's Vega architecture, which is beginning to show its age. Still, a Ryzen 5 3400G, for example, with 11 Vega CUs, can run the latest games such as Resident Evil Village at respectable frame rates, albeit at 720p.

The first generation of AMD's RDNA architecture was expected to make the leap to the latest graphics technology after the APUs; Rembrandt is not expected to arrive until 2022, so there is still time, but this rumor suggests it will not happen.

Nevertheless, AMD has just announced an entirely new APU family, the Ryzen 5000 G series. However, these new chips only feature Vega, and the promise of RDNA 2 integrated graphics in the Ryzen 6000 series chips is such a big improvement that it is worth the wait. [RDNA 2 is what is found in the impressive Radeon RX 6800 XT, for example, which may have exactly 72 compute units and more cores, but the basic architecture is fully scalable. However, one of the magic elements of RDNA 2 is the infinity cache, but I don't think there is room for it in the already cramped space of an APU. We'll have to see how this plays out.

Rembrandt is also expected to be the first APU to use AMD's next-generation AM5 platform, with DDR5 and PCIe 4.0 support. It may seem like too much, but since many of these technologies are already out there or in the planning stages, everything is certainly possible. Let's hope the rumors are true.