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AMD’s graphics rep, Frank Azor, has appealed to gamers not to “despair” over pricing of the company’s new Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs. He says AMD is working with AIBs to replenish stock and that, “MSRP pricing will continue to be encouraged.”
The RX 9070 and 9070 XT graphics cards went on sale yesterday. Unlike the release of the Nvidia RTX 5070 the day before, there were actually some MSRP-priced cards to be had. Inevitably, they sold out fast, but there was at least some availability at MSRP.
Demand today for our new @amdradeon cards has been phenomenal. We are working with our AIBs to replenish stock at our partners ASAP in the coming days and weeks. MSRP pricing (excluding region specific tariffs and/or taxes) will continue to be encouraged beyond today so don’t… pic.twitter.com/8VxGioMkevMarch 6, 2025
Azor’s post referring to “phenomenal” demand reflects the fact that, as I write these words, AMD’s new graphics cards are totally sold out on big retailers like Best Buy and Newegg.
Meanwhile, some industry observers have questioned how “real” the 9070 and 9070 XT’s MSRP prices actually are. Claims have been circulating that AMD has distributed rebates to retailers in order to allow them to hit the MSRP, variously reported at $50, $60 and even $100.
The narrative here is that retailers had built up stock prior to launch based on a higher MSRP, only for AMD to reduce that MSRP just before the public unveiling of pricing, forcing the need for a rebate to hit those new MSRPs.
Whether that actually happened is very hard to say. However, it should presumably be more straightforward by at least some measures to hit MSRP with a second wave of supply. In other words, there shouldn’t be a need for a rebate.
On the other hand, tariffs are threatening to push prices up. As of today, or at least this precise moment, tariffs of 20% apply to goods coming into the US from China. Most if not all graphics cards are currently assembled in China. So presumably that 20% would apply.
Of course, it’s anyone’s guess how long those tariffs will remain in place. The Trump Administration yesterday walked back once again on tariffs impacting Canada and Mexico, so it’s very hard to predict how long the China tariff may or may not apply.
As ever, time will tell. We’ll have to wait and see whether MSRP-priced 9070s and 9070 XTs pop up again soon. If they do, they will look like awfully good deals versus the Nvidia RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti competition.
Compared MSRP-for-MSRP, the AMD cards looked pretty interesting, with the 9070 priced on parity with an RTX 5070 but comfortably outperforming it by most metrics and the 9070 XT coming close to the RTX 5070 Ti’s frame rates for $150 less.
However, if you’re comparing AMD at MSRP versus Nvidia at the typically much inflated prices the two 5070-based cards go for, then it’s pretty much no contest. You’d go AMD.
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Kurt Indovina
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