AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT And 9070 Leaked Stock Status Will Make Gamers Grin
The GPU season is heating up with mid-range products finally starting to near their launch dates. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs have already launched in mid-range and high-end form with the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, GeForce RTX 5080, and GeForce RTX 5090 out in the wild (soon to be joined by the GeForce RTX 5070 without the Ti designation). AMD has been waiting patiently on the sidelines, but the March 6th release of its Radeon RX 9070 and Radone RX 9070 XT is finally almost here. All eyes will be on the inventory levels of the new AMD Radeon RX 9000 series, and some early news indicates we will see more units than NVIDIA's launch.
The big issue with GPUs releases thus far has been the disappointingly low inventory levels across all SKUs of NVIDIA GPUs. NVIDIA even launched a priority access program to give some gamers a chance at buying a GeForce RTX 50 series GPU. That has been compounded with the fact that prices on custom models by many of its add-in board (AIB) have already increased only a mere few weeks after launch, due to these shortages and tariffs.
The big issue with GPUs releases thus far has been the disappointingly low inventory levels across all SKUs of NVIDIA GPUs. NVIDIA even launched a priority access program to give some gamers a chance at buying a GeForce RTX 50 series GPU. That has been compounded with the fact that prices on custom models by many of its add-in board (AIB) have already increased only a mere few weeks after launch, due to these shortages and tariffs.
In a post on X, the folks at Hardware Unboxed claim that if the Radeon RX 9070 XT sells out shortly after launch, it would mean that retailers sold more 9070 XT cards than the entirely of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series lineup.
To be clear, the site is not saying that levels will be high, necessarily. The logic is that retailers already have more Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs on hand than they did NVIDIA units, for that statement to be true. Which, by the way, the site stated in a follow-up post that it "spoke directly with retailers, because they know how many Radeon GPUs they have to sell and they know how many GeForce GPUs they've had and sold."
To further break down the point, NVIDIA's GPUs released thus far are the higher-end products that include the GeForce RTX 5090 with its $1,999+ price tag. Even the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is at an MSRP of $749, with likely street prices above that. This means that the $549 and $599 Radeon RX 9000 series products naturally should have a higher inventory level since they are aimed at the mainstream market. This is the segment that gobbles up the most GPUs in the consumer space (versus the ultra high-end).
NVIDIA's first response that falls within this range will be the GeForce RTX 5070, which we currently do not know how its inventory levels will be at launch on March 5th. Price and MSRP for both AMD and NVIDIA on paper are one thing ,but real world pricing has shown to vary considerably. Early launch gremlins and technical issues have also plagued many launches previously. NVIDIA has stated that some of its new GPUs have missing ROPs, for example, leading to reduced performance.
AMD needs a successful launch on many different levels for it to gain more market share over NVIDIA's current dominant lead. The pricing needs to remain close to MSRP, the inventory needs to be adequate, and performance as expected.
AMD has stated in the past that it plans to focus on the mid-range and lower-high end to appeal to the mass market. This is a smart move, because developers will then have more incentive to optimize for AMD and it creates an environment of better drivers and software. AMD's RDNA 4 has some impressive elements, such as FSR 4, so we're hoping for positive outcomes from the competition between AMD and NVIDIA for gamers.
NVIDIA's first response that falls within this range will be the GeForce RTX 5070, which we currently do not know how its inventory levels will be at launch on March 5th. Price and MSRP for both AMD and NVIDIA on paper are one thing ,but real world pricing has shown to vary considerably. Early launch gremlins and technical issues have also plagued many launches previously. NVIDIA has stated that some of its new GPUs have missing ROPs, for example, leading to reduced performance.
AMD needs a successful launch on many different levels for it to gain more market share over NVIDIA's current dominant lead. The pricing needs to remain close to MSRP, the inventory needs to be adequate, and performance as expected.
AMD has stated in the past that it plans to focus on the mid-range and lower-high end to appeal to the mass market. This is a smart move, because developers will then have more incentive to optimize for AMD and it creates an environment of better drivers and software. AMD's RDNA 4 has some impressive elements, such as FSR 4, so we're hoping for positive outcomes from the competition between AMD and NVIDIA for gamers.
