[Updated] AMD's RX 9070 MSRP price only applies to first shipment, retailer confirms
You might have to pay more than $549 for the RX 9070 in the future
😬 AMD's RX 9070 MSRP price only applies to the first shipment, as confirmed by a retailer
📈 Future shipments of the RX 9070 will likely be sold at higher prices
💰 The initial $549 price point is limited to a small selection of cards
😢 The price hikes will be similar to those experienced by Nvidia's 50-Series
❌ AMD’s Frank Azor reached out with a statment denying the AMD RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT MSRP will increase intentionally
Updated (03/06/2025: 5:30pm EDT): AMD responded to The Shortcut with the following quote from AMD Consumer and Gaming Marketing’s Frank Azor.
“It is inaccurate that $549/$599 MSRP is launch-only pricing. We expect cards to be available from multiple vendors at $549/$599 (excluding region specific tariffs and/or taxes) based on the work we have done with our AIB partners, and more are coming. At the same time, the AIBs have different premium configurations at higher price points and those will also continue.”
- Frank Azor, Consumer and Gaming Marketing AMD
This basically explains that the $549/$599 MSRP of the RX 9070/RX 9070 XT won’t just be launch prices. AMD says has worked with AIB partners (i.e. PowerColor, Asrock, XFX, etc) to achieve and maintain RX 9070’s $549 and RX 9070 XT’s $599 pricing. Unfortunately, the quote doesn’t exaxtly promise the cards will be available at their intended $549/$599. Instead AMD says it “expects” the prices won’t increase, excluding factors like regional taxes and tarriffs.
That essentially shifts the blame of potentially increased pricing to the current state of world trade. However, it does not seem that the latest Radeon GPU prices will be intentionally increased from their original MSRP as the Sweedish retailer, Inet.se, alledgedly asserted.
Original story follows…
One of the most appealing things about AMD's RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT cards is that they're actually available at the MSRP prices of $549 and $599. However, it turns out that Team Red's new GPUs could suffer the same price hikes as Nvidia's 50-Series.
Some retailers believe that the suggested MSRP price won't be honored by board partners for long, which means the price could increase (thanks, Videocardz). The attractive $549 price point, limited to a small selection of cards, was only applicable to the first shipment. New stock will be listed at a higher price.
Swedish retail chain Inet.se explained how the situation works in more detail and mentioned that $549 cards like PowerColor's Reaper model will not be relisted at MSRP.
"We have now learned how the recommended prices, also known as MSRP prices, work for the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT. We are not allowed to say exact prices ahead of the release, but simply put, they will apply to a limited number of cards.
"The prices only apply to the first shipment of each model. For Sapphire and Asus it will be just as usual, we have only received one shipment and you can buy it until it runs out, but with PowerColor it will be different.
"Our second shipment from PowerColor is already waiting, and we cannot offer it at MSRP prices. This means that we will first sell the Reaper models at MSRP prices and the stock balance will tick down as usual until the first shipment is sold out. Then, with a certain delay, the stock will be replenished with new cards and we will then release the Reaper cards for order again – although not at MSRP prices.
"If you receive an order at MSRP price even though the cards are sold out, we will of course give you that price, but unfortunately we have no way of continuing to sell cards at MSRP price after the first deliveries are sold out. – Inet.se
Andrew Gibson of Overclocker UK also confirmed that only a limited number of cards will launch at MSRP on the company's forum.
"We literally have around 2,000 units from Sapphire in stock, 1,000 from PowerColor and 1,000 from Asrock. I feel stock will be fine for a few days. MSRP is capped quantity of a few hundred, so prices will hump once those are sold through."
We've seen Nvidia's 50-series fetch far higher than their MSRP prices, when they're available. The RTX 5070 Ti is supposed to be a $750 card, but it's being sold for $1,200.
We were extremely impressed with AMD's RX 9070 in our review, which offered better performance than Nvidia's RTX 5070 for the same $549 price. However, we'll have to see how much AMD's new cards end up going for, once the initial shipments sell out.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.