Since 2009, the chip maker has offered up systems based on its chips , which attempts to create a "good, better, best" distinction. Along with a "Vision Basic" distinction, there was a "Premium" brand for systems designed for HD video consumption, an "Ultimate" brand for digital media creation, and a "Black" brand for high-end gamers.

The Vision brand was simple enough for retail associates and consumers to grasp. In fact, AMD Americas marketing vice president Tony Fernandez-Stoll said 80 percent of sales staff at its retail partners were able to explain the distinction between Vision categories. Where the system failed, he said, was within each of those categories.

Because each Vision category was so wide and all-encompassing, there were often significant price deltas, making it too tough for retail associates to explain the differences. Why would a consumer or small business opt for a $699 Vision Premium system when a $599 alternative carried the same branding and ostensibly the same functionality?

That inevitably led to a discussion of "the guts of the system" with the customer, or worse for AMD, the customer opting for the lower-priced alternative. Either way, the Vision goal of was defeated, Fernandez-Stoll said.

In its place, AMD's new Vision branding carries the letter of AMD's chip family name (E- or and a numerical tier from lowest to highest. So instead of Vision, Premium, Ultimate, Black, you have Vision E2, A4, A6 and A8.