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AMD allegedly makes last-min decision to delay RX 9070/XT reveal as GPUs seemingly already in stock at major retailer

RX 9070 GPUs, including AIB cards like the Gigabyte RX 9070 OC pictured here, will be up for sale in March 2025. (Image source: Gigabyte, Unsplash, edited)
RX 9070 GPUs, including AIB cards like the Gigabyte RX 9070 OC pictured here, will be up for sale in March 2025. (Image source: Gigabyte, Unsplash, edited)
During the official reveal of the RDNA 4 GPUs at CES 2025, AMD confirmed a Q1 2025 launch. However, aside from revealing a vague release date target, the company has remained tight lipped on other details. Interestingly, MicroCenter reportedly already has supply of RX 9000 GPUs, making AMD's decision to push the RDNA 4 launch to March 2025 seem like a sudden development.

As AMD unveiled the first few details regarding the RDNA 4 GPUs at CES 2025, fans were expecting a detailed reveal and launch to follow soon. Leaks also pointed to AMD debuting the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT in mid-January with a release date set for January 23. Sadly, the leaks didn’t pan out as Team Red confirmed a March release date for RDNA 4 cards yesterday.

This begs the question: Were the leaks about AMD launching the RX 9000 boards in January 2025 always false or did AMD change plans last minute?

The case appears to be the latter as Moore’s Law is Dead claims that Micro Center already has RX 9000 GPUs in their inventory. The leaker reveals that Micro Center apparently has “shelves of RX 9000 GPUs” filling one of the retailer’s backrooms. Team Red has allegedly left Micro Center “holding the bag” while refraining from communicating pricing information.

Additionally, if one major retailer has a stock of RX 9000 cards, it is quite logical to think that other retailers are also sitting on a supply of RDNA 4 boards.

So, it appears AMD has decided to play the waiting game to see the final pricing, performance, and reception of the RTX 5070/RX 5070 Ti which will be released in February 2025. Since AMD has no direct competitor to the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 this time around, it is imperative that the company nail the launch of the RX 9070 and the RX 9070 XT from a price/performance perspective. Delaying the RX 9070/XT release to March gives a perfect opportunity to do just that.

All we have to do now is wait and see if the pricing and proposed performance of the RX 9070/XT pan out.

RX 9070/RX 9070 XT price and performance 

For the performance of the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, leaks point to >RX 7900 XT and >RX 7800 XT rasterization performance, respectively. Ray tracing performance is allegedly seeing a much bigger increase with the RX 9070 XT expected to outperform RX 7900 XTX in this regard.

When it comes to pricing, the RX 9070 XT could land between $479 and $550 while the RX 9070 is expected to cost below $500. However, GPU pricing is a tricky thing to nail down as last-minute price changes are never out of the equation. So, take the information with a grain of salt.

Micro Center reportedly has the RX 9000 GPUs waiting to be put on store shelves. (Image source: Moore's Law Is Dead)
Micro Center reportedly has the RX 9000 GPUs waiting to be put on store shelves. (Image source: Moore's Law Is Dead)

Source(s)

Moore's Law Is Dead on YouTube, Teaser image: Gigabyte, Alim on Unsplash, edited

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 01 > AMD allegedly makes last-min decision to delay RX 9070/XT reveal as GPUs seemingly already in stock at major retailer
Fawad Murtaza, 2025-01-21 (Update: 2025-01-22)