Thursday, January 23rd 2025

AMD is Taking Time with Radeon RX 9000 to Optimize Software and FSR 4

Today, 02:25 Discuss (184 Comments)

When AMD announced its upcoming Radeon RX 9000 series of GPUs based on RDNA 4 IP, we expected the general availability to follow soon after the CES announcement. However, it turns out that AMD has scheduled its Radeon RX 9000 series availability for March, as the company is allegedly optimizing the software stack and its FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) for a butter smooth user experience. In a response on X to Hardware Unboxed, AMD's David McAfee shared, "I really appreciate the excitement for RDNA 4. We are focused on ensuring we deliver a great set of products with Radeon 9000 series. We are taking a little extra time to optimize the software stack for maximum performance and enable more FSR 4 titles. We also have a wide range of partners launching Radeon 9000 series cards, and while some have started building initial inventory at retailers, you should expect many more partner cards available at launch."

AMD is taking its RDNA 4 launch more cautiously than before, as it now faces a significant problem with NVIDIA and its waste portfolio of software optimization and AI-enhanced visualization tools. The FSR 4 introduces a new machine learning (ML) based upscaling component to handle Super Resolution. This will be paired with Frame Generation and an updated Anti-Lag 2 to make up the FSR 4 feature set. Optimizing this is the number one priority, and AMD plans to get more games on FSR 4 so gamers experience out-of-the-box support.

Source: David McAfee

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184 Comments on AMD is Taking Time with Radeon RX 9000 to Optimize Software and FSR 4

#76

remekra

AusWolfBecause the guys at Intel are 5th dimensional beings, so they know what Blackwell and RDNA 4 cards are coming in the entry level, how they will perform, and how much they will cost... obviously. :wtf:

Weird ass logic, man.

It would also make them look like an easy target for Nvidia to do any adjustment before the 5070 launch if they wanted to.

Yes we are. I just see both scenarios as a possibility.

Yep, you're right. I should never underestimate the strength in herd mentality.

If nvidia could shave off price of 5070, then shave off prices of 9070 then. But nvidia wouldn't do it, it's nvidia they do not care, once the price is set, it's set.
Instead they turned a GPU launch into conspiracy theory. I'm just waiting for some of those sellers to sell couple of 9070 cards so that we can have even more leaks, pics and whatnot while AMD will still be completely quiet about them.

#77

AusWolf

Bomby569isn't that the point you and AMD are clearly missing?!
what others have don't change what you have, your strategy shouldn't be dictated by what others do -50usd, just release what you have and stop being a follower, that's what they have been doing for so long and got them from market leader to 10% market share

Yeah, if AMD releases a 9060, or Nvidia a 5060 that totally destroys the B580 at the same price, or is significantly cheaper, then being "a leader" for 2 minutes was totally worth it.

The leader is not the one who arrives first with a product, but the one who produces consistent sales. You compete with what's on the market, not with what you imagine for the future.

But if Intel is really competing with nonexistent cards, then I guess the fact that they priced the B580 at, or just ever so slightly below the 7600 and 4060 is a mere coincidence, right?

Bomby569AMD shit won't be a better product in 2 months, it will just be the same shit but late to the market

Late for what? Don't tell me that people only buy GPUs on launch day. :wtf:

remekraIf nvidia could shave off price of 5070, then shave off prices of 9070 then. But nvidia wouldn't do it, it's nvidia they do not care, once the price is set, it's set.

Why force an early price adjustment, one even before reviews are out? You want to sell your cards for as much as possible, not as low as possible.

remekraInstead they turned a GPU launch into conspiracy theory. I'm just waiting for some of those sellers to sell couple of 9070 cards so that we can have even more leaks, pics and whatnot while AMD will still be completely quiet about them.

Media exposure is media exposure, right? You can't argue with results. :oops:

#78

Hecate91

OnasiWait, I am confused. We are talking about NV and price adjustments. Not whether AMD will adjust THEIR price closer to launch.

Yeah, I did. With good reason.

Nvidia rarely adjusts their prices except for super versions, or the 4080 12gb which launched as the 4070ti 12gb. Nvidia has nearly 90% market share, 70% profit margins, and the tech press to hype up new cards with positive reviews, they don't give a crap what AMD does.
And ah yes, the be all end all of GPU stat metrics, it just displays how loyal people are to Nvidia, and I doubt AMD could realistically do anything to change that including taking a loss, or selling faster for cheaper since that was tried with the 7000 series.

#79

Bomby569

Hecate91Nvidia rarely adjusts their prices except for super versions, or the 4080 12gb which launched as the 4070ti 12gb. Nvidia has nearly 90% market share, 70% profit margins, and the tech press to hype up new cards with positive reviews, they don't give a crap what AMD does.
And ah yes, the be all end all of GPU stat metrics, it just displays how loyal people are to Nvidia, and I doubt AMD could realistically do anything to change that including taking a loss, or selling faster for cheaper since that was tried with the 7000 series

that's not true, you can look at the pricing on part picker for example, the 4070 (random example) dropped in price from 599 to 549 a bit after launch

#80

dia6olo

Bomby569isn't that the point you and AMD are clearly missing?!
what others have don't change what you have, your strategy shouldn't be dictated by what others do -50usd, just release what you have and stop being a follower, that's what they have been doing for so long and got them from market leader to 10% market share

AMD shit won't be a better product in 2 months, it will just be the same shit but late to the market

I would argue the opposite, the masses fall for the marketing, at least initially which because of AMD's market share creates a lose, lose situation for them even if their cards are good.
So delaying and not being pressured to release when Nvidia release could be a good move by AMD.

Also, their products could very easily be better products in 2 months time because of drivers/software and pricing, at least in terms of bang for buck and the Nvidia offerings could very well end up looking rather poor because of AMD's pricing/ bang for buck...

#81

Assimilator

AusWolfIf you're Nvidia, your question is why couldn't it be 90%?

Because their current strategy of completely ignoring their competitors is organically getting them there over time. Why change what's working so well?

#82

Neo_Morpheus

dj-electricStore owner friends are already telling me their avg customer is willing to pay 20% extra for an NVIDIA product even if of equal or slightly slower performance metrics.

Store owners actually would tell customers looking for an AMD gpu to buy Ngreedia because all AMD gpus suck.
I experience that almost every time i go to Microcenter and B&H.

dj-electricThis is not good.

Indeed.
Dont forget that we no longer have reliable and proper tech reviewers and instead we have bribed influencers who will call dlss a must have feature instead of what really is, a lock-in proprietary tech which main function is to take your options as a consumer away.

CyberPomPomI know DLSS as a replacement to game optimization is not liked that much but I wouldn't call it waste. Seems harsh :D

See above and its actually worse.

I dont understand why everyone assumed that they were going to release rdna4 in January when AMD never said that.

where AMD really failed was on the ces announcement and who knows why.

Then again, they must know by now that no matter what, they will get nailed to the cross so maybe they decided to do this at their pace and take a couple more nails along the way meanwhile Ngreedia keeps getting “free” passes.

#83

Assimilator

AusWolfThe leader is not the one who arrives first with a product, but the one who produces consistent sales.

Doing the former generally sets you up well for the latter.

AusWolfMedia exposure is media exposure, right? You can't argue with results.

But why would you want to be in the headlines for a bad reason, when you could be there for a good one?

#84

Chrispy_

"AMD is taking its RDNA 4 launch more cautiously than before, as it now faces a significant problem with NVIDIA and its waste portfolio of software optimization and AI-enhanced visualization tools."

I'm sure that's a typo and the word should be "vast" but I think the typo should stay.

#85

JustBenching

Why are people in here so salty because other people aren't buying the brand they want them to buy? The last few weeks I've been reading the same stuff over and over and over again. Sheep buy Nvidia because stores tell them not to buy amd and whatever other excuse you guys are coming up with.

Let's for once have a decent amd card and then we can look at the sales. I'm pretty confident they will be good.

#86

Assimilator

Neo_MorpheusDont forget that we no longer have reliable and proper tech reviewers and instead we have bribed influencers who will call dlss a must have feature instead of what really is, a lock-in proprietary tech which main function is to take your options as a consumer away.

You live in such a reality distortion field that you fail to understand that other people can have different opinions. You also fail to understand that your opinion is just as valid, or invalid, as theirs.

And W1zz is a tech reviewer who believes DLSS is a must-have feature, insulting him with claims of bribery is just... beyond the lowest of the low. You need to chill the f**k out and get your head screwed on straight, because your blind hatred of NVIDIA for being NVIDIA is just unhealthy.

In fact you're going on my very short user ignore list, because your posts that are never anything more than anti-NVIDIA bile contribute sod all to any real discussion, and I don't want to see them anyhmore. Grow up man.

#87

AusWolf

AssimilatorDoing the former generally sets you up well for the latter.

Within a long enough time frame, definitely, but not when the (much stronger) opposition is less than 2 months away with the launch of their competing product.

AssimilatorBut why would you want to be in the headlines for a bad reason, when you could be there for a good one?

Bad things create more echo (not that you'd want that, but still). If you look at review threads, most people comment something like "good stuff" and go about their business. And here we are, discussing, theorising thread after thread for weeks now. Sure, we could be talking about something good, great even, but it would soon be overshadowed by the 5070 launch. Putting the 9070 XT launch right next to it at least steals a little attention away from Nvidia.

#88

Neo_Morpheus

AssimilatorAnd W1zz is a tech reviewer who believes DLSS is a must-have feature, insulting him with claims of bribery is just..

This will be the last time that i will reply to you.

Stop placing words on my behalf because i did not mention one person in particular my comment or him for that matter.

last part, practice what you preach, because its definitely not healthy getting triggered so bad for what one person believes.

#89

AusWolf

AssimilatorAnd W1zz is a tech reviewer who believes DLSS is a must-have feature, insulting him with claims of bribery is just... beyond the lowest of the low. You need to chill the f**k out and get your head screwed on straight, because your blind hatred of NVIDIA for being NVIDIA is just unhealthy.

I don't disagree, but selling one's sympathy for DLSS as a "must-have feature" rather than a personal opinion is a bit daft, especially when 45% of people on a front page poll say they don't use any upscaling.

#90

Bomby569

Neo_MorpheusStore owners actually would tell customers looking for an AMD gpu to buy Ngreedia because all AMD gpus suck.
I experience that almost every time i go to Microcenter and B&H.

sure blame the messenger. It's their fault stores don't want to deal with returning customers complaining, just because they don't have the god tier level necessary DDU skills to deal with AMD products.

#91

Assimilator

AusWolfPutting the 9070 XT launch right next to it at least steals a little attention away from Nvidia.

But by that time NVIDIA will have already been constantly in the headlines for 2+ months with 5090 as the new fastest consumer GPU in existence, and then 5080 as a faster and cheaper 4080. That is momentum and inertia that IMO cannot be disrupted effectively by a simultaneous attempted spoiler launch by a competitor. Will it have a negative effect on 5070, sure; will it have the effect that AMD desires - I doubt it, unless their product is so overwhelmingly good it blows 5070 out of the water.

#92

JustBenching

AusWolfI don't disagree, but selling one's sympathy for DLSS as a "must-have feature" rather than a personal opinion is a bit daft, especially when 45% of people on a front page poll say they don't use any upscaling.

If you go by forum polls amd outsells nvidia as well. They are not reliable

#93

AusWolf

Bomby569sure blame the messenger. It's their fault stores don't want to deal with returning customers complaining, just because they don't have the god tier level necessary DDU skills to deal with AMD products.

Why would you need any DDU skill for AMD? I haven't used DDU for at least 5 years. It has given me more grief than happiness lately anyway.

#94

Vayra86

dj-electricIt really feels like we are fast approaching a point of no return for Radeon in its effort to claw back market share.
It seems like even if the RX 9070 XT came out with RX 7900 XT performance and a 599 USD price tag, besides the internet niche of hardcore uses who carried team red since about 2014, not much is going to change in market perception.

Store owner friends are already telling me their avg customer is willing to pay 20% extra for an NVIDIA product even if of equal or slightly slower performance metrics.
This is not good.

I called it when they started the usual fail-train when launching GPUs: if they do it like that, its DOA.

And they do it like that. Its interesting how they keep finding new ways to fuck up and not manage a launch properly. Quite an achievement even, such creativity.

Its really something if you have a competitive product but your marketing and pricing strategy denies selling it. First with RDNA2, then 3, now 4.

#95

Chrispy_

Will they be working with game developers to migrate popular existing titles to FSR4?

One of the problems with FSR is that if a game shipped with FSR1 or FSR2, it's usually stuck on that ancient, sub-par version of the upscaler. Nvidia's DLSS overrides coming to the Nvidia app are a big deal, especially if DLSS4 fixes the worst problems (smear, ghosting, and detail loss) of DLSS3. AMD kind of need this too, because people don't exclusively play the latest, newest AAA titles. I'm regularly firing up games from the last 5 years or so and my Steam backlog is no joke.

#96

Vayra86

Bomby569isn't that the point you and AMD are clearly missing?!
what others have don't change what you have, your strategy shouldn't be dictated by what others do -50usd, just release what you have and stop being a follower, that's what they have been doing for so long and got them from market leader to 10% market share

AMD shit won't be a better product in 2 months, it will just be the same shit but late to the market

Exactly this. AMD never takes a leadership position, never guides something to a new level, they always follow, copy and even fail to make a good copy sometimes. At that point they've got a product that's beyond saving but still developed and ready to go to market, not only less performant than the competition, but also too late. And even while they're too late, they need more time to bring features up to date.

Its like a trifecta of shitty decision making.

#97

AusWolf

AssimilatorBut by that time NVIDIA will have already been constantly in the headlines for 2+ months with 5090 as the new fastest consumer GPU in existence, and then 5080 as a faster and cheaper 4080. That is momentum and inertia that IMO cannot be disrupted effectively by a simultaneous attempted spoiler launch by a competitor. Will it have a negative effect on 5070, sure; will it have the effect that AMD desires - I doubt it, unless their product is so overwhelmingly good it blows 5070 out of the water.

I don't think the 5090 and 5080 are that important in this regard. They're both priced way out of reach of people looking for a 5070-level card. We've also learned in the last 2-3 generations that the performance of the halo card has little to no effect on the rest of the product stack. Personally, I won't even read their reviews in entirety, just the architectural differences, because how much faster, hungrier and more expensive we can go above the 4090, I honestly don't care.

#98

Assimilator

AusWolfI don't disagree, but selling one's sympathy for DLSS as a "must-have feature" rather than a personal opinion is a bit daft,

Claiming something is a "must-have feature" is a personal opinion, though. It's just an opinion that happens to be borne out by the market as a whole.

AusWolfespecially when 45% of people on a front page poll say they don't use any upscaling.

45% of people on (a) an enthusiast forum (b) an enthusiast forum with a historically pro-AMD tilt.

#99

AusWolf

Chrispy_Will they be working with game developers to migrate popular existing titles to FSR4?

One of the problems with FSR is that if a game shipped with FSR1 or FSR2, it's usually stuck on that ancient, sub-par version of the upscaler. Nvidia's DLSS overrides coming to the Nvidia app are a big deal, especially if DLSS4 fixes the worst problems (smear, ghosting, and detail loss) of DLSS3. AMD kind of need this too, because people don't exclusively play the latest, newest AAA titles. I'm regularly firing up games from the last 5 years or so and my Steam backlog is no joke.

You should be able to afford to play those old games on a new GPU without FSR.

#100

TSiAhmat

AusWolfYou should be able to afford to play those old games on a new GPU without FSR.

well yes, but having the option would be still nice.

Also lower rx9000 skews might appreciate it, even in older titles.

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AMD is Taking Time with Radeon RX 9000 to Optimize Software and FSR 4

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