AMD may price the Radeon RX 9070 series to undercut Nvidia's mid-range GPUs

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: AMD's naming scheme for the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 series along with the company's various comments and statements would appear to confirm that these graphics cards will be squarely aimed at the mid-range market. However, as we await for final specifications and pricing, new rumors suggest that Team Red may be ready to aggressively undercut Nvidia's competing GeForce RTX 50 offerings.

According to IT Home, AMD aims to set highly competitive prices for the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, potentially accelerating the retirement of the RX 7800 XT. Depending on performance benchmarks, a sub-$600 price tag could signal serious competition against Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti.

Currently, AMD's best GPU in this price range is the Radeon RX 7800 XT, which launched in 2023 at $499. Reports indicate that the company initially planned to cease production in the third quarter of this year but may have decided to move up that timeline to January in order to shift focus to the RX 9000 series more quickly.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is expected to be based on the Navi 48 GPU, rumored to feature 4,096 cores, a 2.97GHz boost clock, 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a 256-bit bus, and 640GB/s of memory bandwidth. The standard RX 9070 is also anticipated to include 16GB of VRAM.

Reports suggest that the RX 9070 XT could debut at a $599 MSRP, undercutting Nvidia's $749 RTX 5070 Ti by $150. If these rumors hold, the RX 9070 will likely be slightly cheaper than the $549 RTX 5070.

However, AMD's competitiveness will entirely depend on real-world performance results, and those are currently only available in vague snapshots. IGN reported impressive rasterization performance from the RX 9070 in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, while Hardware Unboxed highlighted substantial improvements in upscaling image quality.

Comprehensive testing is still needed to determine whether the RTX 50 series' transition to GDDR7 VRAM – offering increased memory speed and bandwidth – will provide a meaningful advantage over the Radeon's GDDR6. AMD's claims of dramatic ray tracing performance improvements also remain unverified.

Historically, AMD's GPUs have lagged behind Nvidia's in hardware-accelerated ray tracing. However, numerous recent titles – such as God of War Ragnarök, Stalker 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – run well without it. That said, ray tracing bound games are becoming more prevalent, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Doom: The Dark Ages.

Nvidia is expected to launch the RTX 5070 Ti on February 20, while AMD has confirmed plans to release the RX 9070 series in early March. Additionally, rumors suggest that the RTX 5070, 5060 Ti, and 5060 could follow soon after.

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AMD may price the Radeon RX 9070 series to undercut Nvidia's mid-range GPUs

 

[BogdanR]

Fingers. And toes.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

If the 9070 XT perfectly matches 5070 TI performance (including RT), it should be priced $549 to gain significant marketshare.

 

[tylerb1489]

If the 9070 XT perfectly matches 5070 TI performance (including RT), it should be priced $549 to gain significant marketshare.

I think they can get away with 599$ even, remember to low of prices cause people to think it’s worse just because it’s cheaper.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Add in AMD better drivers. Lots of problems for few with 5000 series, having to roll back or install a Nvidia hot fix, Nvidia does not care that much about you anymore

let's see if I end up with egg on my face - calling it better launch than Nvidias

 

[opckieran]

I think they can get away with 599$ even, remember to low of prices cause people to think it’s worse just because it’s cheaper.

Pricing is always difficult. Sure, they’ll get more $ per GPU, and potentially avoid a price war if they price it high enough, but it won’t help with AMD’s declining dGPU marketshare. At some point soon, they will have to start going for marketshare. This might be the time to do it, given the cost disadvantage of GDDR7. Or not, depending on how RX 90 is packaged. Since they will be on the same manufacturing node as nVidia too, neither side has a price advantage there.

 

[Inthenstus]

If the 9070 XT perfectly matches 5070 TI performance (including RT), it should be priced $549 to gain significant marketshare.

Came here to say this. It should match the 5070 price if it’s in par with a 5070 Ti, otherwise, no one will buy it. A $150 premium to get NVIDIA is almost always the better deal.

 

[fazy shah]

Unfortunately, they will not be available on MSRP.

 

[Eldrach]

Price and availability will be key here. Can’t see them beating the 5070ti, the specs just aren’t there. A pricepoint of 549 with better performance than the regular 5070 is probably the only way to beat Nvidia in the mid market

 

[Coisa]

I suffer from techno-lust like other followers of Techspot, always wanting the flagship performers. But my budget is low flying, out of the stratosphere. It's good news when a new generation appears; after a few months the older models become affordable. Last purchase was a Ryzen RX 6750xt, under $400, and am very happy with it but still wanting the next upgrade. I try to stay with AMD just to keep the big bully (a tiny bit more) honest.

 

[noblody]

I wonder if AMD fixed the power consumption issues. Their cards consumed way more power than nvidia in video playback, multimonitor setups and in games with frame caps. On the pricing front I don't expect miracles since the fab part seems to be constrained and allocations go to more lucrative chips.

 

[Eldrach]

I wonder if AMD fixed the power consumption issues. Their cards consumed way more power than nvidia in video playback, multimonitor setups and in games with frame caps. On the pricing front I don't expect miracles since the fab part seems to be constrained and allocations go to more lucrative chips.

That’s because AMD has usually been operating at higher clock speeds than Nvidia. According to the leaked specs - that doesn’t seem to have changed with the 9070

 

[Burty117]

They're using the same process node as Nvidia, but stuck with GDDR6 instead of moving to GDDR7, surely that's gotta save some money to help price them more competitively, It hasn't helped Nvidia moving to GDDR7 so I doubt sticking to GDDR6 will harm performance.

 

[Nobina]

Availiability is very important here, actual price depends on it.

In the words of Steve Ballmer: "Availability, availability, availability, availability..."

 

[Sherwoodnt]

I suffer from techno-lust like other followers of Techspot, always wanting the flagship performers. But my budget is low flying, out of the stratosphere. It's good news when a new generation appears; after a few months the older models become affordable. Last purchase was a Ryzen RX 6750xt, under $400, and am very happy with it but still wanting the next upgrade. I try to stay with AMD just to keep the big bully (a tiny bit more) honest.

Amen. If I'm buying new, I want a game bundled with the GPU. Not that I care about the game. It simply means that I'm not buying the hype or competing with scalpers any longer.

 

[wiyosaya]

Competition is a good thing.

 

[JupitersMoon]

Fingers crossed so that way the 7900 XT and XTX can drop in price lol

 

[techstrike]

I would LOVE to see from AMD (because NV lost it) the following prices/benchmarks:

- Low GPU with 1080p/ultra settings/60fps settings for the majority of known games with the price range of 300-400$.

- Mid GPU with 1440p/medium/60fps settings for the majority of known games with a price of range of 400-500$.



note: I would like to hear somebody else opinions

 

[Eldrach]

I would LOVE to see from AMD (because NV lost it) the following prices/benchmarks:

- Low GPU with 1080p/ultra settings/60fps settings for the majority of known games with the price range of 300-400$.

- Mid GPU with 1440p/medium/60fps settings for the majority of known games with a price of range of 400-500$.



note: I would like to hear somebody else opinions

You would pay 500 dollars for a gpu that aims for 60 fps medium settings at 1440p? Not sure if anyone would buy that - buy a 7800xt or something - Play at 1440p high settings at 100 fps - it's around 500 dollars.

 

[urielejh]

I wonder if AMD fixed the power consumption issues. Their cards consumed way more power than nvidia in video playback, multimonitor setups and in games with frame caps. On the pricing front I don't expect miracles since the fab part seems to be constrained and allocations go to more lucrative chips.

That's just not true. They solved it a few months post release.

 

[CBTex]

It's getting really hard not to be turned off by these graphics cards prices and underwhelming performance, mostly due to Nvidia. I recently bought a used PS5 Pro instead of upgrading my 3060 12 GB. I'll just deal with the lower graphics fidelity. I'm just not interested in a $800 mid-range graphics card. I'm really pulling for AMD but I don't see any scenario where they get their act together and stop Nvidia from driving up prices.

 

[redgarl]

The whole Bill of Material for the 9070XT is about the same as the 7800XT which had a MSRP of 500$.

AMD needs to stick to their gun and not play corporate. They should not try to get 100$ more because Nvidia mess it up.

If the 7900XT is retailing for 640$ at the moment, then you cannot ask for more for the 9070XT.

 

[redgarl]

Came here to say this. It should match the 5070 price if it’s in par with a 5070 Ti, otherwise, no one will buy it. A $150 premium to get NVIDIA is almost always the better deal.

No, it is never a better deal, it is the definition of being scammed.

 

[Eldrach]

No, it is never a better deal, it is the definition of being scammed.

Well, say what you will about Nvidia. But I got an offer from someone wanting to buy my 1800 dollar 4090 card for 1800 dollars just two weeks ago - And I've had it since launch in 2022.
I'm suspecting we'll see the same with 5090 as well.

 

[scoffer]

Well, say what you will about Nvidia. But I got an offer from someone wanting to buy my 1800 dollar 4090 card for 1800 dollars just two weeks ago - And I've had it since launch in 2022.
I'm suspecting we'll see the same with 5090 as well.

I suspect that says more about the ***** who wants to buy your card than Nvidia.