AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPUs: Official Release Window Announced, Price Still Unknown

At CES 2025, AMD unveiled its next-generation graphics cards, the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, part of the RDNA 4 lineup. Surprisingly, these cards were absent from AMD's keynote, though vendors displayed them on the show floor with obscured specifications. David McAfee, VP & GM of Radeon Graphics and Ryzen CPUs, took to Twitter/X to announce that both cards are slated for release in March 2025. "Radeon 9000 series hardware and software are looking great and we are planning to have a wide assortment of cards available globally," McAfee stated. "Can’t wait for gamers to get their hands on the cards when they go on sale in March!”

While the exact specifications and pricing remain undisclosed, it's anticipated that the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT will compete directly with Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti, set to launch in February. Interestingly, reports suggest that stock of the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT has already reached retailers and is in the hands of reviewers, with eTeknix confirming receipt of review samples.

The situation has led to speculation that AMD might have delayed the official launch to strategically counter Nvidia’s RTX 5070 series, allowing for a direct comparison between the two. There's also speculation that pricing pressures from Nvidia could be influencing AMD's decision to delay the RX 9070 lineup's release.

The lack of detailed information about the new AMD graphics cards has resulted in a somewhat confusing launch narrative. A report from June 2024 highlighted Nvidia's dominant position in the discrete GPU market, holding 88% compared to AMD's 12%. With no other significant competitors in the mid-range or high-end consumer graphics card market, AMD faces a critical challenge to erode Nvidia's market dominance.