Tuesday, January 21st 2025

AMD Sets March Launch Window for Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 Graphics Cards

AMD has finally made an official announcement regarding the much anticipated launch of RDNA 4 graphics cards. The first wave of next-generation models—Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 (non-XT)—are lined up for a loose "around March" release, thus conforming to recent company statements that pointed to a first quarter (of 2025) rollout. The rumor mill had Team Red strategizing a launch for later this month—potentially beating NVIDIA to the next-gen GPU punch, but "price hurdles" and other factors have allegedly contributed to a revision of tactics.

Yesterday, David McAfee—Vice President and General Manager of Ryzen and Radeon products—ended speculation with a social media post: "Radeon 9000 series hardware and software are looking great, and we are planning to have a wide assortment of cards available globally. Can't wait for gamers to get their hands on the cards when they go on sale in March!" Hardcore PC hardware enthusiasts will likely be left confused by this fresh proclamation—a steady flow of January leaks have provided evidence of Navi 48 GPU-based products sitting in retail storage facilities, unboxing of certain partner models, and insiders playtesting early samples. Industry watchdogs posit that AMD's "aggressive pricing approach" has rubbed retailers the wrong way—the extra wiggle room could be spent on negotiating wholesale costs.
Sources: David McAfee Tweet, Tom's Hardware, Wccftech, VideoCardz
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116 Comments on AMD Sets March Launch Window for Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 Graphics Cards

#26
Onasi
Welp, as I said many times - wouldn’t be a Radeon launch without a self-inflicted dickshot. Wonder why the delay if the cards are already in the hands of retailers.
bugMany people were going to compare RDNA4 and Blackwell in the $500-ish segment and decide what to buy. They can't can't do that now.
I mean, being fair, seeing how apparently the 5000 series flagships will suffer from being unobtainable I would wager that the 5070 will have the same fate and effectively will ACTUALLY release more or less in the same time windows as the 9070 cards.
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#27
Macro Device
And many people wanted AMD to actually compete so nVidia stop asking for such a premium for their underbaked wares. Alas!
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#28
ThomasK
bugMany people were going to compare RDNA4 and Blackwell in the $500-ish segment and decide what to buy. They can't can't do that now.
Just look at the fanboyish comments above.

None of them even consider buying the product, they are just whining. So, if all you want to do is compare, then just wait :)
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#29
_roman_
No one said which date in March the launch it will be. I expect it to be closer to April 2025. Initial delay. Early fast buyers who dry up the few pieces available at start.
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#30
Daven
bugWow! The more I read, the weirder this gets.

I know nobody asked, but my money is on: Nvidia blindsided AMD and now they have to sell the 9070XT at cost. Or worse.
I mean AMD said they were not going to launch a high-end GPU line-up like over a year ago. So I'm not sure how $549 and up pricing blindsided them. If anything, the incredibly horrible looking specs of the 5000 series should boost AMD. So I'm not sure what is going on.
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#31
Tropick
ThomasKJust look at the fanboyish comments above.

None of them even consider buying the product, they are just whining. So, if all you want to do is compare, then just wait :)
I think the root of what a lot of people are complaining about are the optics of this. Early stocking and late launch should (hopefully) help ease availability issues and shouldn't have that big of an impact on sales but I think a lot of people were hoping for this big, confident swing and a hit by AMD to just tear through the market with these relatively powerful cards early on to undermine Blackwell. But now that they're seeing what is perceived to be sheepish behavior on AMDs end, a lot of their confidence has been diluted. Whether or not all this ire is justified we'll see in time but I'm definitely hoping to up/sidegrade my 6950XT with one of these things. The Sapphire Nitro+ AIB would be choice.
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#32
Random_User
ThomasKSo, a bunch of kids are mad because of the launch date, but they weren't going to purchase the product to begin with.

Get a life.
Who knows, maybe the people, who need the card right now, would be glad to get the 9070 with whatever performance it has, if it was available now, But it gets postponed, and it's unclear, if they going to delay the lower RDNA4 tiers like RX 9060, or will launch them all simultaneously.
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#33
HairyLobsters
Curious what that means for partners that have already shipped cards to vendors and why they shipped so early.
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#34
chstamos
Well, at least we now know that the problem wasn't (just) Raja. Twice.
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#35
Visible Noise
freeagentLol I didn't finish high school, I am sure there are more qualified people than I :)
This is AMD marketing we’re talking about. You could be running the entire place in six months.
Visible NoiseIt’s looking to be no different this time around. In three weeks Nvidia will have product on the shelves.

In three weeks AMD might put out a slide telling us when to expect the slide deck about the product.
Man, did I call this one or what?!
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#36
TheinsanegamerN
ThomasKSo, a bunch of kids are mad because of the launch date, but they weren't going to purchase the product to begin with.

Get a life.
This comment should be in the dictionary right next to Projection.
chstamosWell, at least we now know that the problem wasn't (just) Raja. Twice.
Yeah nah, this problem goes all the way back to 2005. ATi's team never properly integrated with AMD's, and never since the merger has anyone fixed this problem.

I said over a decade ago: the best thing AMD can do is fire all their middle managers and marketing teams. Pair of massive financial boat anchors around AMD's success.
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#37
bug
DavenI mean AMD said they were not going to launch a high-end GPU line-up like over a year ago. So I'm not sure how $549 and up pricing blindsided them. If anything, the incredibly horrible looking specs of the 5000 series should boost AMD. So I'm not sure what is going on.
I mean specifically the 5070 and its $549 price tag. 9070XT is not going to be much faster than that, so it cannot be much more expensive than that either.
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#38
yfn_ratchet
I still don't trust this... This article and the linked sources regurgitate the same tweet that I cannot verify the veracity of. It's possible that this is the real David McAfee tweeting about this, but it's just as easily someone impersonating, as the account is relatively young given McAfee's only other confirmed socials, odd patterning off his LinkedIn profile, and its blue badge only appearing this month (and even then, based off new guidelines, all that confirms is that the account is paying for a Premium subscription). Time will tell, I suppose, but I'd rather be seeing these cards by Valentine's Day.
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#39
bug
yfn_ratchetI still don't trust this... This article and the linked sources regurgitate the same tweet that I cannot verify the veracity of. It's possible that this is the real David McAfee tweeting about this, but it's just as easily someone impersonating, as the account is relatively young given McAfee's only other confirmed socials, odd patterning off his LinkedIn profile, and its blue badge only appearing this month (and even then, based off new guidelines, all that confirms is that the account is paying for a Premium subscription). Time will tell, I suppose, but I'd rather be seeing these cards by Valentine's Day.
Maybe you can verify this:
AMD at the 2025 International CES announced the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 desktop performance-segment graphics cards. These will be the face of AMD's next generation of gaming graphics products, and will be powered by the new RDNA 4 graphics architecture. AMD hopes to launch both cards within Q1 2025.
Straight out of their CES material: www.techpowerup.com/330549/amd-debuts-radeon-rx-9070-xt-and-rx-9070-powered-by-rdna-4-and-fsr-4
They knew there was even a chance to miss Q1 entirely.
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#40
calhau
I really don't understand the surprise. The 5070 launch is February it's normal that AMD releases the 9070s in March.
Let's face it the people that won't wait a month to compare the card's wouldn't buy the Radeon GPU anyway.
Nvidia has the brand, the gimmicks and the marketing, so not only fanboys but the average Joe will go for Nvidia.
Students and professionals that need a GPU likely need those cuda cores so they go for Nvidia again.
< 300 GPUs are what the global market wants, don't forget that most people don't live in rich countries.
AMD need's to have disruptive pricing to get some market share with the 9070s. According to their CES presentation the performance should be at most the same as a 7900xt, so any one with a 4070ti and up won't buy it. They need to know the 5070 performance to price it as high as they can, plus how they market it (better performance or better perf/price).
The reality is that if it's faster the can get an additional 20-30 bucks on the sticker price if it's slower they need to price it at most at 450 bucks if they want to realistically make waves (considering that they didn't go for the high end, they should be able to focus more on cost effectiveness than Nvidia, if they where competent at least).
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#41
mechtech
I wonder if it will be available from AMDs store??
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#42
3valatzy
ThomasKSo, a bunch of kids are mad because of the launch date, but they weren't going to purchase the product to begin with.

Get a life.
That's quite a dishonest statement. I will buy the 9700 XT only if it retails around $399. If it is 799$ like AMD wants, then it will be DOA, and the only one to blame is Lisa Su. She has to go already!
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#43
mechtech
bugMany people were going to compare RDNA4 and Blackwell in the $500-ish segment and decide what to buy. They can't can't do that now.
In USD. Here that would be about (500x1.44x1.13) ~ $815CAD I'd rather buy a new stainless appliance for that instead or a toolbox for the garage.
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#44
bug
mechtechIn USD. Here that would be about (500x1.44x1.13) ~ $815CAD I'd rather buy a new stainless appliance for that instead or a toolbox for the garage.
I know all that, I'm not in the US either. US is just used as a reference on Internet forums. Most people don't live over there anyway, it would turn crazy really fast if everyone was talking their local currency :D
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#45
AnotherReader
bugI mean specifically the 5070 and its $549 price tag. 9070XT is not going to be much faster than that, so it cannot be much more expensive than that either.
If the leaked benchmarks are anywhere close to reality, then the 5070 will be completely outclassed by the 9070 XT.
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#46
Visible Noise
AnotherReaderIf the leaked benchmarks are anywhere close to reality, then the 5070 will be completely outclassed by the 9070 XT.
Why is it so difficult to listen to what AMD has been telling you?

A nice picture for you.

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#47
bug
Visible NoiseWhy is it so difficult to listen to what AMD has been telling you?

A nice picture for you.

You can always read that as "it will compete with that Nvidia product on price, but it will destroy it in performance", I guess.
Anyone can dream, until proper benchmarks numbers land.
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#48
AnotherReader
Visible NoiseWhy is it so difficult to listen to what AMD has been telling you?

A nice picture for you.

Of course, until we get the reviews, everything is a conjecture. As for the picture, it also positions the 7700 XT below the 4060 Ti whereas, in TPU's review, the 7700 XT dominates the 4060 Ti.

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#49
Visible Noise
bugYou can always read that as "it will compete with that Nvidia product on price, but it will destroy it in performance", I guess.
Anyone can dream, until proper benchmarks numbers land.
There‘s some people that are really disconnected from reality on Anandtech’s forums. They are saying better than 7900 XTX performance for $479.

cookoo
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#50
bug
Visible NoiseThere‘s some people that are really disconnected from reality on Anandtech’s forums. They are saying better than 7900 XTX performance for $479.

cookoo
I'm sure when benchmarks land, we will all be proven wrong. I'm chill. Only I found out I'll be chilling for another month or two, that's all :P
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