AMD calls demand for Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT "unprecedented," says restocking at MSRP is priority number one

[midian182]

In a nutshell: AMD has called the demand for its RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards "really unprecedented" in a new interview. Finding one of the RDNA 4 cards in stock at a retailer right now, especially at MSRP, is a near impossibility, but a company executive said restocking the GPUs is "priority number one."

The AMD RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 launched on March 6. We liked the former card, awarding it a score of 85 and praising its solid value. We gave the RX 9070 a less-impressive score of 70, mostly due to it being just $50 cheaper than the XT version despite offering around 14% lower performance.

The RX 9070 XT has a $599 MSRP and AMD priced the 9070 at $549. Currently, only one RX 9070 XT on Newegg is listed at $599 – the most expensive is $859 – and all the cards are sold out. It's the same situation at Best Buy.

There are three RX 9070s at MSRP on Newegg (two on Best Buy), but again, all the cards are sold out.

AMD had promised "wide availability" for its RDNA 4 cards when they were announced.

David McAfee, AMD Vice President and General Manager over Client Channel Business, talked about the situation on HotHardware's livestream yesterday.

"The launch of RDNA 4 was really a milestone event for our graphics business. The demand was very, very, very strong all around the world," he said.

Referencing the current availability issues, McAfee said that AMD was doing all it could to get its cards into the hands of gamers, and at prices they expect.

Also see: GPU Pricing Update Q1 2025 – Fake MSRPs?

"The biggest thing we are doing quite honestly is ramping supply of Navi 48, very aggressively the demand we saw on day one was really unprecedented and unprecedented across all the price points in the RDNA 4 product portfolio."

"We want to make sure that users are able to buy cards at the prices they expect to see in the market" McAfee added. "We're doing everything that we can to make that happen" for "retailers as well as our board partners are doing their part to help ensure that there's plenty of supply at those price points"

AMD doesn't make reference models for the RX 9070 or the RX 9070 XT. To help AIB partners increase production, McAfee said AMD is making sure they have all the components that they need "to build the widest assortment of cards that they can."

"As we refill the channel from what happened last week, you'll see more supply coming," McAfee assured. "Not just at the opening price points, but across the entire range as we look at the rest of this quarter, Q2, and beyond."

It's not just AMD experiencing these problems, of course. Nvidia's cards are even harder to find and their prices even higher than their MSRPs in most cases.

Earlier today, we heard from Jese Martinez, CEO of custom PC builder PowerGPU, who said that his company is having to charge $5,000 or more for PCs with RTX 5090 cards due to their sky-high prices. There's even an Indian retailer running a competition in which three "winners" can buy an RTX 5080 at its MSRP.

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AMD calls demand for Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT "unprecedented," says restocking at MSRP is priority number one

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

They have only 5 cards out of steam TOP50 manufactured for last 5 years, and now suddenly they're selling out everything they bake?! Yeah right...

P.S. Maybe someone could enlighten me, did I skipped some kind of worldwide super tripleA space opera, 100outof100 metacritic and rotten tomatoes release, so half of the global population and their grandmas ran as fast to get their hands on gaming GPU?

 

[Achaios]

The 5080 was No1 Best Seller at Amazon.de up to an hour ago (presently #2), at a price point of EUR 1900.

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/bestsellers/computers/430161031/

Apparently there's tons of Germans frantically buying the 5080 at a price point of almost EUR 2K.

This is like a massive phenomenon of hysteric gamers willing to part with their money for an underwhelming GPU at an absurd price point OR there is something that we don't understand at play here.

Current #1 Best Seller at Amazon.de is the Asus Prime 9070 XT at almost EUR 900. (German MSRP for the 9070 XT was supposed to be EUR 689)

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Reportedly from hearsay, Micro Center store employees have said they had hundreds of AMD cards ready for the launch day. An exact number isn't known, but if there were 200/300/400 cards at each store and there are 28 stores across the US....

That means there were between 5,600 to 11,200 cards from AMD alone just at Micro Center locations. These cards have all sold and what has been restocked has been sold. People are looking to getting the 9070 and 9070XT over Nvidia's offerings of the 5070 and 5070Ti....probably because of the artificial price hikes we see from the Nvidia's side and also probably due to the lack of inventory.

The last 5080 card I saw at my local Micro Center store was an ASUS model that was listed on the shelf at $1650. After taxes you're paying almost $1800 for a 5080. That's just stupid, but then again, it's not my money so do as they please.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Reportedly from hearsay, Micro Center store employees have said they had hundreds of AMD cards ready for the launch day. An exact number isn't known, but if there were 200/300/400 cards at each store and there are 28 stores across the US....

That means there were between 5,600 to 11,200 cards from AMD alone just at Micro Center locations. These cards have all sold and what has been restocked has been sold. People are looking to getting the 9070 and 9070XT over Nvidia's offerings of the 5070 and 5070Ti....probably because of the artificial price hikes we see from the Nvidia's side and also probably due to the lack of inventory.

The last 5080 card I saw at my local Micro Center store was an ASUS model that was listed on the shelf at $1650. After taxes you're paying almost $1800 for a 5080. That's just stupid, but then again, it's not my money so do as they please.

I saw pictures from the Chicago Microcenter on the 9070 launch day; they posted a sign saying they had 440 9070 XTs & 170 9070 available. Their sign also listed 10 5070 & 7 5090 cards as having come in as well for that day, zero stock of 5070ti & 5080s.

 

[opckieran]

What's it gonna take to get a good desktop launch?

Not a paper launch
No major regression in performance/efficiency
No tendency to explode or melt
No bugginess

Is Zen 5 non-X3D really gonna be the ONLY desktop launch of the past 12 months that didn't have any real issues? Zen 5? The launch everyone hated because AMD chose to pursue efficiency and back off of the stupid clockspeed war it wandered into then ended up backtracking to anyways because tech publications bullied them into it?

 

[redgarl]

I hope AMD make it clear to AIBs that selling high margins GPU is not in their best interest and if they are not abiding, then they are going to be penalized in their allocation of chips!

We always blame AMD, but the real problems always been the retailers and the AIBs.

They are asking 5070TI prices for the 9070XT because they KNOW people will buy them. Hell, they know because many of them are selling Nvidia variants also!

 

[redgarl]

They have only 5 cards out of steam TOP50 manufactured for last 5 years, and now suddenly they're selling out everything they bake?! Yeah right...

P.S. Maybe someone could enlighten me, did I skipped some kind of worldwide super tripleA space opera, 100outof100 metacritic and rotten tomatoes release, so half of the global population and their grandmas ran as fast to get their hands on gaming GPU?

The entire GPU channel inventory was empty. This is Nvidia's fault! They didn't resupply their last gen and their new gen is nothing but a refresh.

The 7900XTX is 6% slower than the 5080, it is a joke...

 

[Beerfloat]

The entire GPU channel inventory was empty. This is Nvidia's fault! They didn't resupply their last gen and their new gen is nothing but a refresh.

The 7900XTX is 6% slower than the 5080, it is a joke...

It really isn't

 

[redgarl]

What's it gonna take to get a good desktop launch?

Not a paper launch
No major regression in performance/efficiency
No tendency to explode or melt
No bugginess

Is Zen 5 non-X3D really gonna be the ONLY desktop launch of the past 12 months that didn't have any real issues? Zen 5? The launch everyone hated because AMD chose to pursue efficiency and back off of the stupid clockspeed war it wandered into then ended up backtracking to anyways because tech publications bullied them into it?

Pal... GPU and consoles launch are ALWAYS the same. I am surprised that people are even surprised anymore. AMD obviously didn't paper launch just by looking at the numbers, but it was definitely still not enough.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

They have only 5 cards out of steam TOP50 manufactured for last 5 years, and now suddenly they're selling out everything they bake?! Yeah right...

P.S. Maybe someone could enlighten me, did I skipped some kind of worldwide super tripleA space opera, 100outof100 metacritic and rotten tomatoes release, so half of the global population and their grandmas ran as fast to get their hands on gaming GPU?

I think the demand for these higher end cards is not unusually high (espeically for a new product launch), but instead its the supply that is short. And yes, AMD is clearly selling out 9070/XT cards, just look at any website that sells them; either they are out of stock, on sale for well above MSRP, and/or being forced bundled with whatever leftovers the retailer wants to get rid.

Basically Nvidia stopped making their high end 4000 series cards late last year (and AMD wound down production of high end 7000 series cards too) leaving stock of those to dry up, followed by not supplying nearly the normal amount of high end cards for the 5000 series that replaced them. AMD has shown up with fairly sizeable amounts of stock for its new 9000 series cards, but with the market leader Nvidia who normally makes ~80-90% of the high end cards deciding to send out cards in dribbles and drabs shortages are going to happen.

 

[MarcusNumb]

Say what they want but they simply can not do anything with these prices without a reference card. AIBs and retailers will decide it depend on the demand.They could never put the price to 900euros/usd if there was a reference card always available at MSRP of 600 or 689. I'll just keep waiting cause it's absurd paying 900euros for a 9070xt, let alone 1600 or 1800 for a 5080.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I hope AMD make it clear to AIBs that selling high margins GPU is not in their best interest and if they are not abiding, then they are going to be penalized in their allocation of chips!

We always blame AMD, but the real problems always been the retailers and the AIBs.

They are asking 5070TI prices for the 9070XT because they KNOW people will buy them. Hell, they know because many of them are selling Nvidia variants also!

And AMD would do this because?

They're selling every 9070/xt chip they can make. Why would they care if card MSRP is high? Rather, getting pissy about is a great way to lose every AIB that also makes nvidia cards, leaving you with just XFX, sapphire, and powercolor. Brilliant idea /s.

The entire GPU channel inventory was empty. This is Nvidia's fault! They didn't resupply their last gen and their new gen is nothing but a refresh.

The 7900XTX is 6% slower than the 5080, it is a joke...

AMD allowed their channel to dry up as well. In case you dont remember, 7900 and 7800s have been nearly impossible to find anywhere for months.

Also, the 7900xtx is 6% slower, with asterisks. Those being a game that doesnt use RT and is very well optimized. Throw in RT and the 7900xtx is losing to the 4070ti.

That's why the 9070xt was so interesting. it made significant steps in closing the RT gap. Now if only they had a 9080xt.

What's it gonna take to get a good desktop launch?

Not a paper launch
No major regression in performance/efficiency
No tendency to explode or melt
No bugginess

Is Zen 5 non-X3D really gonna be the ONLY desktop launch of the past 12 months that didn't have any real issues? Zen 5? The launch everyone hated because AMD chose to pursue efficiency and back off of the stupid clockspeed war it wandered into then ended up backtracking to anyways because tech publications bullied them into it?

Running out of stock after launch has been the norm for 15 years now. If you want tons of supply, then be ready to pay $40k for the high end GPU like AI companies do.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Say what they want but they simply can not do anything with these prices without a reference card. AIBs and retailers will decide it depend on the demand.They could never put the price to 900euros/usd if there was a reference card always available at MSRP of 600 or 689. I'll just keep waiting cause it's absurd paying 900euros for a 9070xt, let alone 1600 or 1800 for a 5080.

Even if there was a reference card from AMD those would quickly sell out (many to scalpers who will jack the price up anyways) and the AIBs would simply raise prices anyways in this market. I mean Nvidia has reference cards for the 5080 & 5090 yet that has done nothing to stop the AIBs from raising their prices.

 

[MarcusNumb]

Even if there was a reference card from AMD those would quickly sell out (many to scalpers who will jack the price up anyways) and the AIBs would simply raise prices anyways in this market. I mean Nvidia has reference cards for the 5080 & 5090 yet that has done nothing to stop the AIBs from raising their prices.

Which is why I wrote "always available " cause that's the anchor we need to keep the prices reasonable. Apparently if you make a reference card but it is not available anywhere then it's just on paper.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I saw pictures from the Chicago Microcenter on the 9070 launch day; they posted a sign saying they had 440 9070 XTs & 170 9070 available. Their sign also listed 10 5070 & 7 5090 cards as having come in as well for that day, zero stock of 5070ti & 5080s.

That's a lot of card and they clearly sold out within the first day or two.

Just think if all Micro Center stores were holding 500 cards on the 9070/XT launch day, that means just between Micro Center stores there were at least 14k cards available. I've seen dozens of 9070/XT cards back in stock a couple of times since the launch day inventory has been depleted, so AMD cards seem to have what one could call a somewhat decent resupply inventory out there. Sadly, the cards are selling out as fast as they are coming in, but at least they are coming in.

No way in hell there were close to that many Nvidia cards when the 5090 and 5080 launched. Nvidia has claimed that it would be months before inventory issues started to be less of a thing and that means we could see inventory woes on Nvidia's side as early as April, but my guess would be more likely June.

I'm intrigued by this release from AMD for a couple of personal reasons, even though I'm not in the market for a new GPU. Hopefully the fumble that Nvidia has had with Blackwell does really well in AMD's favor if they can capitalize upon it.

 

[opckieran]

Pal... GPU and consoles launch are ALWAYS the same. I am surprised that people are even surprised anymore. AMD obviously didn't paper launch just by looking at the numbers, but it was definitely still not enough.

Pal... If you want to talk about consoles, there are allegedly close to 2 million Switch 2 consoles in America. Regardless of whether or not that's true, if you've got 1-2 million units of any console at launch (which seems typical for console launches) and it sells out, then fine, that's not a paper launch. It seems like AMD had what, maybe 30-50K units of 9070/XT (Saying each MC got 300-500 units is a bit absurd IMO, I live near 2 MCs and there's no way either got more than 200 each)? Even AMD are admitting that sales surprised them and outperformed expectations. At least nVidia has a bit more of an excuse (in terms of launch numbers only, the bugs missing ROPs and melting is completely inexcusable), given that they are 85-90% of the Desktop market, demand is going to be much higher for their cards and especially for a new halo card, and that their monolithic design is more expensive and lower-yielding to produce than chiplet MCMs. Despite this, we still say nVidia paper-launched, no?

 

[brucek]

Does anybody know why AMD and Nvidia are both so allergic to speaking in real numbers when it comes to units shipped? These are public companies that ultimately report their results to the public (although they can obscure details by combining results of different products.)

I'd like to believe that if it were me, I'd be fine sticking to the facts with something straightforward like "We are making about 12,000 per week and hope all our fans will be able to get one soon."

 

[redgarl]

It really isn't

Are we really going there again? Argue with the number yourself if you want...

 

[psycros]

Does anybody know why AMD and Nvidia are both so allergic to speaking in real numbers when it comes to units shipped? These are public companies that ultimately report their results to the public (although they can obscure details by combining results of different products.)

I'd like to believe that if it were me, I'd be fine sticking to the facts with something straightforward like "We are making about 12,000 per week and hope all our fans will be able to get one soon."

Any hard data they make public will be exploited by the competition and, even worse, create knee-jerk reactions among stock analysts.

 

[redgarl]

Pal... If you want to talk about consoles, there are allegedly close to 2 million Switch 2 consoles in America. Regardless of whether or not that's true, if you've got 1-2 million units of any console at launch (which seems typical for console launches) and it sells out, then fine, that's not a paper launch. It seems like AMD had what, maybe 30-50K units of 9070/XT (Saying each MC got 300-500 units is a bit absurd IMO, I live near 2 MCs and there's no way either got more than 200 each)? Even AMD are admitting that sales surprised them and outperformed expectations. At least nVidia has a bit more of an excuse (in terms of launch numbers only, the bugs missing ROPs and melting is completely inexcusable), given that they are 85-90% of the Desktop market, demand is going to be much higher for their cards and especially for a new halo card, and that their monolithic design is more expensive and lower-yielding to produce than chiplet MCMs. Despite this, we still say nVidia paper-launched, no?

You probably forgot about the PS5 launch with consoles being impossible to get even after 12 months after the launch date?

Yeah, wake up, the inventory channel was entirely empty and the bad performances of the 5000 series just was the biggest sale argument for the 7000 series, leaving nothing in the channel.

Just with Microcenter, AMD had about 15 000 GPUs conservatively. People lining up in the morning were all able to get one. You are not able to do that on a paperlaunch.

 

[Beerfloat]

Are we really going there again? Argue with the number yourself if you want...

Cherrypicking

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

that their monolithic design is more expensive and lower-yielding to produce than chiplet MCMs. Despite this, we still say nVidia paper-launched, no?

I would like to point out that the AMD 9000 series is also monolithic, and the 9070/XT are using a chip that is only a bit smaller than the one in the 5080/5070Ti (357mm2 vs 378 mm2); also both AMD & Nvidia are using similar, mature TSMC "4nm" nodes as well. So no excuses there for Nvidia showing up with a lot less 5080/5070TI cards than would be expected for this sort of launch.

 

[toooooot]

I can believe they sent a solid shipment of 9000 cards. Unlike Nvidia.
But the important thing here is that a lot of people were very disappointed with the last gen cards. Never before have I seen "I will skip this generation" comments under reviews.
2 years later...
People are running games on ancient cards. And even those who preferred Nvidia now are considering AMD.
There need to be a lot more cards, as many as PS5 to wreck scalpers' business.

 

[Subset6]

Never understand the urgent urgency to get these. Just wait 6 months to a year then buy one at or lower msrp. Plus the added benefit of more mature drivers and fix’s to the card itself that might arise.