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Yesterday reviewers agreed that AMD has finally beaten Nvidia’s RX9070 and RX9070 XT graphics card, assuming there is enough stock to launch at the $549 and $599 price points.
This morning’s launch was better than recent Nvidia releases in terms of stockbut may not have met this bar — and AMD wouldn’t deny reports that the best-priced GPUs of these GPUs were capped at specific quantities after which they could be sold for more than $549 or even $599.
When The Verge and Best Buy checked this morning they found that only one model of each GPU was listed at its MSRP. Of course, these models sold out very quickly. Most cards are listed at a premium of $100 or more over the MSRP.
Micro Center is doing much better. It has five 9070s and five 9070XTs
listed at MSRP, and its website claims that they are still available to purchase in one of their 28 US locations.
So what happens next? Retailers are now claiming that even entry-level graphics cards will not hold their prices.
We have learned how the MSRP prices work for the launch AMD Radeon RX9070 and RX9070 XT […] They will only apply to a small number of cards,” wrote Swedish retailer Inet.se as documented by VideoCardz.
UK retailer Overclockers UK reportedly stated that “MSRP is limited to a few hundred units, so prices will rise once these are sold out.”
Best Buy seemed suggestive that the $549/$599 prices were temporary. The Best Buy website had them listed as on sale when we visited it this morning. However, the company has since removed “save $100” and “save $80”. AMD claims the Best Buy listings are an error.
We asked AMD
:
- Are you able to confirm or deny the fact that the best price on the best priced cards is capped this way?
- Could you confirm or deny only a fraction (of the highest-priced 9070 and 9070XT models) will be sold for their MSRP?
- Do you confirm or deny AMD has given board partners or retailers the go-ahead to raise prices above MSRP once a certain number or quantity of shipments have been sold?
AMD refused to confirm or deny. Frank Azor, chief gaming solutions architect and gaming marketing boss at AMD, addressed the question of MSRP availability in this statement:
There is no truth to the claim that $549/$599 MSRP is a launch-only price. Based on the work done with our AIB partner, we expect cards to be offered by multiple vendors for $549/$599 (excluding tariffs or taxes specific to a region). The AIBs will continue to offer different configurations with higher prices.
Azor tweeted on X AMD is working to replenish the stock “in coming days and/or weeks” and added, “MSRP prices (excluding region-specific tariffs and/or tax) will continue to encourage beyond today, so don’t despair.”
