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Recap: The launch of AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 graphics card has dashed hopes that Team Red might escape the inflated prices and weak supply that have plagued Nvidia over the past few weeks. Although listings for the new GPUs at the company’s MSRP still exist, retailers globally confirmed that they will evaporate soon.
Retail sources have told multiple outlets that AMD’s new Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT graphics cards will only be available at MSRP during early shipments. Afterward, premiums from board partners will dominate, potentially diminishing or eliminating the lineup’s value advantage over Nvidia’s midrange RTX 50 series products, which face similar availability problems.
Overclock3D, Inet, and Overclockers all report that the cards currently available at MSRP only maintain those prices because AMD sold its launch stock to retailers at a discount. Once the promotion ends, sellers expect prices to spike worldwide. They also say costs won’t revert when new stock arrives.
Graphic cards going for MSRP have become increasingly rare in recent years, but the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 50 series, which started in January, has been particularly disastrous. A Taiwan earthquake and the Chinese New Year holiday depressed the company’s manufacturing capacity for the first quarter of 2025, causing supply to disappear instantly on launch day. Most of what’s available is over $100 above MSRP, hundreds of dollars over in some cases.
More positive news initially surrounded AMD, with reports saying the RX 9070 line’s stocks are healthier. Additionally, reviews confirmed that they usually match or outperform Team Green’s RTX 5070 duo at similar prices with more VRAM. The company has even closed the gap in ray tracing and image reconstruction after lagging behind its rival for several years.
Also Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Review Overpromised, Underdelivered, and Ultimately Pointless
Unfortunately, neither company can escape stocking and pricing struggles. The new mid-range GPUs from AMD and Nvidia are now sold out, with many partner variants listed at $150 or $200 above MSRP. Nvidia’s supply will reportedly improve in late March when the RTX 5070 Founder’s Edition arrives, but it’s unclear how much improvement we’ll see.
Looming 20-percent tariffs against imported goods from China might worsen the situation for GPUs and other electronics that source components from the country. Corie Barry, the CEO of prominent PC retailer Best Buy, recently remarked that customers should expect price hikes soon.
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