MSI Confirms It's Skipping RDNA 4 And Will Not Make Any Radeon RX 9070 Cards
AMD released its Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards to retail about a week and a half ago (on March 6), both of which are exclusive to its add-in board partners, meaning no reference 'Made by AMD' variants. Even so, we have yet to see any custom models by MSI. As it turns out, MSI is not only skipping the Radeon RX 9000 series, but RDNA 4 as a whole. That is, unless something got lost in its recent messaging.
MSI confirmed its absence from AMD's latest-generation launch in a statement provided to Tom's Hardware. The outlet asked the company if it had plans to release any Radeon RX 9000 series cards based on RDNA 4, to which it replied, "Regarding your question, MSI is not manufacturing AMD GPUs this generation."
It's a curious admission for sure. Unless plans change, the Radeon RX 9070 XT will remain the top RDNA 4 model, as AMD doesn't intend on releasing an ultra-enthusiast SKU to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090. Why not? AMD's targeting more mainstream segments where gamers spend the bulk of their dollars, which include the midrange and entry-level tiers.
That being the case, we can expect more Radeon RX 9000 models to follow, such as a Radeon RX 9060 XT. If MSI's messaging is accurate, then it will be skipping those models as well. As Tom's points out in a chart outlining MSI's past participation, this is in stark contrast to previous generation GPU launches from AMD, though perhaps the writing was on the wall.
For the Radeon RX 7000 series based on RDNA 3, MSI released Radeon RX 7900 XTX, Radeon RX 7900 XT, and Radeon RX 7600 models, but skipped the Radeon RX 7800 XT, Radeon RX 7700 XT, and Radeon RX 7600 XT.
Going back further, MSI was more more active in releasing Radeon RX 6000 and Radeon RX 5000 series models, with 45 and 30 different SKUs, respectively, versus just four custom SKUs for the Radeon RX 7000 series (including a single Radeon RX 7900 XTX card, a single Radeon RX 7900 XT card, and two Radeon RX 7600 models).
It's not clear why MSI is sitting this round out or whether it's opting to exclusively be an NVIDIA partner going forward. Maybe MSI wants to fill EVGA's shoes after it exited the market in 2022, but unless MSI offers further clarification—which is unlikely—we can only speculate.
_____
_____
Meanwhile, the folks over at Videocardz spotted a Board Channels forum post claiming that AMD is splitting the distribution of its Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 into two tiers. The first tier consists of "core AMD" partners including ASUS, PowerColor, Sapphire, Vastarmor, and XFX, while the second tier is comprised of non-core AMD partners that include Acer, ASRock, Gigabyte, and Yeston.
It's a little surprising to see Gigabyte (and, by extension, its Aorus division) lumped into the second-tier group. Given the current GPU situation (with AMD claiming unprecedented demand), though, availability and pricing are probably bigger concerns than brand preference
