Fake MSRP: AMD's Radeon 9070 XT $600 Launch Price Was a Fantasy

[Scorpus]

Two months after launch, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is still nowhere near its advertised $600 price. With global supply stabilizing, it's time to examine the real cost of AMD's top GPU across key markets.

Read the full article here.

Fake MSRP: AMD's Radeon 9070 XT $600 Launch Price Was a Fantasy

 

[Loadedaxe]

Tariffs aren't a factor here, they’ve been paused since 2022. I really wish media would stop spouting this non sense. They have been repeatedly delayed with no firm implementation date and most likely will never be implemented.

Nothing has changed from the past five plus years, regardless of the announced MSRP, people are still willing to pay higher prices.

 

[vvtunes]

Got one about a month ago for aprox. 675 $ US before tax (+23% sigh..)

 

[SRB]

What I don't understand about all of this is how the laws of supply and demand are just kicked to the curb in all of these articles. First and foremost, is that the reason for the excessive prices is because that's what people are willing to pay. If it were too expensive, they would not sell and prices will drop. Second, while both companies attempt to set the MSRP, as near as I can tell, there is no enforcement mechanism. They either sell the chips to the board partners or they don't.

The only solution I can see it to flood the market with cards, which will never happen either,as both companies have experienced being left with tons of inventory and fire sale prices right before the next launch.

LIke it or not, everyone is managing the channel to prevent a glut and maximize prices. Until buyers decide that these prices are too high, I'm afraid this model is here to stay.

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

As far as I'm aware, AMD doesn't actually sell the RX 9xxx directly to the customer. All GPU's are sold by their AIB partners. So we're comparing an apples and oranges scenario here. There must've been another email from Nvidia recently....

 

[Benses]

As far as I'm aware, AMD doesn't actually sell the RX 9xxx directly to the customer. All GPU's are sold by their AIB partners. So we're comparing an apples and oranges scenario here. There must've been another email from Nvidia recently....

You do realized that AMD can for AIB to sell some models at MSRP right?

This is just another example of AMD unable to capitalize on a great product and gain market shares.

 

[Puiu]

I don't know about the US since corporate greed there trumps anything else, but surprisingly I see both AMD cards much closer to MSRP in Europe. Where I live it can often be found under 650eur (price sans 19% VAT) with some better deals from time to time (closer to 630-620eur). I also see the non-XT at about 580-560eur.

The cheapest XT in stock I see right now is 3763lei which is about 620eur after excluding a 19% VAT (PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9070 XT).

After checking amazing in germany and france, prices are similar to mine (this is with 20% VAT).
https://www.amazon.fr/XFX-Radeon-9070XT-Ventilateur-RX-97TSWF3B9/dp/B0DXLG4FJ3

The US is getting shafted right now considering the fact that those prices with no sales tax included.

 

[Puiu]

Tariffs aren't a factor here, they’ve been paused since 2022. I really wish media would stop spouting this non sense. They have been repeatedly delayed with no firm implementation date and most likely will never be implemented.

Nothing has changed from the past five plus years, regardless of the announced MSRP, people are still willing to pay higher prices.

Tariffs are a factor in the US since they add it even though they shouldn't and nobody will question it

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

What I don't understand about all of this is how the laws of supply and demand are just kicked to the curb in all of these articles.
LIke it or not, everyone is managing the channel to prevent a glut and maximize prices. Until buyers decide that these prices are too high, I'm afraid this model is here to stay.

Thing is, “buyers” aint gonna change from now and ever. Thats how dystopy IRL is built - peeps get poorer and poorer across the globe, at astonishing rate, they cap their spendings, leave it for the most important thing like food? No! - and here’s the unique catch that differs it from anything that was before in history - we have these gacha virtual dreamlife devices, like iPhone with its endless social network or GPU(surprise) with fancy virtual worlds, or an illusive chance to win a lottery of you life (eth mining, AI bubble). More important than food, meds, or your kid’s health

No joke, just take a wider glance at the state of things on the whole market, especially things that were previously high demand, but now hardly get attention, struggle to raise prices despite even ruined economy, inflation and “tarrifs”.

 

[llamapanda]

As long as reviews are retrospectively updated to reflect real-world pricing for comparison purposes, I'm happy to let the market do its thing. Nothing worse than doing research that concludes that X is better than Y but that being based on their relative prices that almost certainly won't be relevant within a month of launch. TS does a grand job of churning out per-dollar charts to help cut through the noise between tiers and competing cards but they're so easily rendered worthless by wild discrepancies in pricing. Pondering aloud, I wonder if it's possible to make some of these 'cost per frame' style charts dynamic based on market prices. We know the performance figures won't change much (pending do-overs from significant driver updates), so this would allow people like myself who buy sometime after launch to get a more accurate picture of the landscape once prices stabilise.

 

[Dr Roboto]

With Nvidia, I just assumed it was people/companies buying them for AI and not gaming as the reason for the high prices. $1000-$2000 per card for a company is petty cash. However, I don't get why AMD cards are so expensive. They are not good for AI, so they are pretty much only for gaming. Your telling me that there are enough gamers out there that really want AMD GPUs at this price? :mindblown

I know GPUs have been overly expensive since the crypto boom and COVID. However, I just don't get it. I have not bought a new GPU since my 1070 Ti way back in the day on a black friday sale. To upgrade, I had to settle for a barely used 3070 Ti off of ebay several years ago for $350 (that seems like a great deal in retrospect). I just can't fathom why anyone would or has the spare cash to spend $700+ on one of these "mid-range" GPUs.

 

[OortCloud]

It's sad how AMD continue to dip into NVidia's playbook at every opportunity. They offered the minimum discount over NVidia's truly awful cards at truly awful prices they thought they could get away with and lied about the MSRP. $900 for 9070 XT is a joke only made less ridiculous by the price and quality of the competition.

 

[Puiu]

It's sad how AMD continue to dip into NVidia's playbook at every opportunity. They offered the minimum discount over NVidia's truly awful cards at truly awful prices they thought they could get away with and lied about the MSRP. $900 for 9070 XT is a joke only made less ridiculous by the price and quality of the competition.

it's 900$ only in the US

 

[Loadedaxe]

Tariffs are a factor in the US since they add it even though they shouldn't and nobody will question it

I agree ... I should’ve said something like, 'Media outlets report the tariff nonsense on their sites, which makes people believe it and gives AIBs a reason to raise prices'.

 

[BogdanR]

TL; DR: The article is more like a hit piece than actual journalism. Much like 5070Ti (which is spared the criticism), upon examination of actual real prices, AMD’s 9070XT pricing in North America is also around 10% over MSRP.

I would neither use Newegg nor Amazon for Canadian pricing on video cards.
I’m saying this because I can physically go out and get a CAD 949.00 9070XT at a Canada Computers or Best Buy store. Sure enough, I can also go out and pick up a CAD 1089.00 5070Ti as well.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Canada Computers had a pretty healthy supply of 9070XT cards selling at CAD 889 ($635.59) Those were, from what I observed, a second shipment sometime around mid March and a third one in April. We’ll see what the May prices will end up being but as far as I can tell Canada Computers will still have 9070XT cards selling for roughly around CAD 880.00. ($630)

Conversely, in the US Micro Center sells the cheapest 9070XT for $659.99 and the cheapest 5070Ti for $824.99.

With Nvidia finally waking up we can hopefully have some competition, as no one in their right mind will pick up the higher priced cards from both brands which will remain unsold on the shelves.

But what I wonder about is why the focus on 9070XT, especially one based on scalping, not real pricing. From what I can gather, both the 9070XT and the 5070Ti are available to the average gamer for roughly around 10% or less over MSRP, at least in North America.

So why the negative focus on AMD only? Nvidia threatened to draw you over hot coals on the way to the court or something?

 

[PaladinNH]

Got my PNY 5070 for $550 when no one wanted them. Plenty fast, efficient, and quiet (for now). Thought the 5070 Ti would've been the pick of the litter, but not at $900+.

Don't honestly know what's going on with the 9070 XT. Scalped one at launch but why would I run a more expensive card with fewer features at 300W+? As the article suggests, if the Ti's are starting to show up from $830-870, how can the XT be justified >$750?

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Inventory is starting to stack up and not just for AMD, but Nvidia as well. Between all the MicroCenter stores as of this morning are sitting on nearly 1500 5080s, nearly 400 5090s, 2K+ 5070Ti, 3k+ 5070 and 1100 9070XT cards.

This is a massive uptick in stock compared to just a week ago where there were barely 250 9070XT cards and maybe a dozen or two 5090 cards.

Being able to find any card is pretty easy right now. What isn't easy is paying the asking price for almost all of them. Let inventory build up and cards sit, the prices will come down some....probably not as much as we'd all like, but they will come down a bit.

 

[hahahanoobs]

So why the negative focus on AMD only? Nvidia threatened to draw you over hot coals on the way to the court or something?

It happens every time Radeon can't lower their prices enough to bring the prices down on GeForce cards.

 

[opckieran]

With Nvidia, I just assumed it was people/companies buying them for AI and not gaming as the reason for the high prices. $1000-$2000 per card for a company is petty cash. However, I don't get why AMD cards are so expensive. They are not good for AI, so they are pretty much only for gaming. Your telling me that there are enough gamers out there that really want AMD GPUs at this price? :mindblown

I know GPUs have been overly expensive since the crypto boom and COVID. However, I just don't get it. I have not bought a new GPU since my 1070 Ti way back in the day on a black friday sale. To upgrade, I had to settle for a barely used 3070 Ti off of ebay several years ago for $350 (that seems like a great deal in retrospect). I just can't fathom why anyone would or has the spare cash to spend $700+ on one of these "mid-range" GPUs.

AMD’s new GPU strategy as of roughly last generation is to simply act like they are Apple or nVidia. Their sales weren’t great to begin with so instead of doubling down on actual value and innovation they decided to trick consumers into thinking theirs was the premier product.

Fortunately for them, nVidia really dropped the ball on the RTX 50 series. So… maybe this will last a few more months for AMD?

 

[BogdanR]

Don't honestly know what's going on with the 9070 XT. Scalped one at launch but why would I run a more expensive card with fewer features at 300W+? As the article suggests, if the Ti's are starting to show up from $830-870, how can the XT be justified >$750?

Honestly, it cannot be justified.
However you can pick a 9070XT at Micro Center or BestBuy for $659.99.

https://www.microcenter.com/product...g-triple-fan-16gb-gddr6-pcie-50-graphics-card

 

[godrilla]

Meanwhile Nvidia is saying the greed is only getting started!
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...and-tsmc-price-hikes-filter-down-to-retailers

uk oc has it come down closer to msrp.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/

 

[yRaz]

My urethra is more affordable

 

[redgarl]

Another article by Tim, another occasion to do some free AMD bashing. He will never dare say the same thing about Nvidia. With missing ROPs, burning 12VHPWR connectors, broken drivers, marketing tactics for the 5000 series and ridiculous pricing, how can anyone in their right mind, even able to think that the biggest focus facing the GPU market right now should be the price of the 9070 XT?

Tim can say whatever he wants, but he refuse to look at the numbers because they are depicting another picture.

Fact - In Canada, right now, at Canada Computers, in-store, the 5070 NON-TI is retailing for the same price as the 9070 XT, from the cheapest to cheapest model on shelves.

Fact - You can get a 9070 XT in Canada around 900 CAD to 950 CAD EASILY!

Fact - I purchased my 9070 XT at 620 USD, even if he wants to say it never was a reality.

Fact - The whole dGPU is facing factors outside of the realm of the semiconductor industry.

 

[ChipBoundary]

What does MSRP stand for again? Oh wait, it's Manufacturer's SUGGESTED Retail Price. MSRP is a suggestion folks, always has been. What's happening today with prices is nothing new. It's not suddenly a "problem". This has been happening since forever. Manufacturers have zero control over the final cost of a product, yet that's who people get mad at. Nvidia literally sets up a temporary shop and sells cards directly to customers, and people get mad at them. People seem to have forgotten how economics works these days.

Look up Nvidia's profit margins folks...

 

[human7]

"With GeForce availability improving, we're hopeful this will spark real competition in the upper mid-range. Ideally, prices across the board will begin to fall."

Sadly, this doesn't look likely, with Nvidia raising the MSRP of 50xx series GPUs by 5-15% or so. https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...and-tsmc-price-hikes-filter-down-to-retailers