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Be prepared to pay more if you didn’t get a launch card
The popularity of the new RX 9070 has meant that stock is now sold out or very limited at many stores. And there’s some bad news if you didn’t manage to score a card in this first wave, as retailers have said the low selling price may only be available for a limited time.
Any new cards that become available may be bumped up to match the MSRP of the more expensive RX 9070 XT. We haven’t seen that yet, given there have been no restocks on the RX 9070 XT at this stage, and some of the only remaining available cards are pricier overclocked models. However, it’s a situation we’ll monitor over the coming weeks as more stock arrives.
What’s the latest?
Hello, James Pickard here! Alex is off on a break after his hunt for cards yesterday so I’m checking in this morning to get the lay of the land and bring you the latest on the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 stock situation. Here’s what you need to know:
- The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 were extremely popular and despite some retailers claiming thousands of cards in stock many sold out very quickly
- There are some RX 9070 cards available this morning, though these are mostly in the UK
- There are also very few RX 9070 XT cards at some retailers and these are mostly the more expensive overclocked editions, so expect to pay a premium if you want these.
- As for baseline cards some early indications suggest the next wave of stock will be available in early April
A bitterly disappointing launch for gamers
I don’t know why, but this GPU launch has been particularly disappointing. Perhaps it was the fact that several retailers teased that they had thousands of cards in stocks ready to go that lead me to believe this one could be different. We already know what to expect with Nvidia graphics card launches, but AMD had me believing with this one.
If I can say anything positive, it’s that stock did in fact hold out a little better than the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. I don’t think we’re in ‘paper launch’ territory with this one. By all accounts, it does appear that a large number of cards were sold. My only question here is – to whom? Judging by the host of cards already appearing on auction sites my fear is that it’s scalpers, yet again, that have snapped up a ton of these cards.
Beware, scalpers are active
Because of course they are. Did you expect a GPU launch without people trying to take complete advantage of gamers? Unfortunately, several unscrupulous types are already listing cards at a significant markup versus the MSRP. My advice is, even if you’re desperate for a card, just hold out for a while because there could be more stock landing over the next few weeks. Don’t let these people take advantage of you!
Demand for the XT is massively outstripping the standard 9070
It’s kind of easy to see why, too. The XT is a much more powerful card for not a lot more money (on paper, that is). With all that said, if you’re willing to settle for ‘just’ a 9070, then you’ll still be able to find plenty of stock over at Scan in the UK, where prices are starting at £529.99 for a XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 Triple Fan model.
The state of play in the UK right now
As of writing, most of the UK retailers still have remaining stock, although it’s increasingly difficult to find an XT for under £600. The cheaper cards are obviously the ones that people are after right now, and unfortunately, it’s looking like they’re pretty much all gone now.
Amazon is worth checking
If you’re in the US, there’s no doubt – it’s going to be incredibly difficult to find stock now. With that said, it’s probably worth sporadically checking in at Newegg and Amazon throughout the day for delayed listing. Amazon in particular seems to be drip feeding stock via third-party merchants today. Note, be careful of scalpers here though – make sure you’re not paying an excessive amount for your card.
It looks like most online stock in the US is now sold out
Yep, unfortunately it’s extremely difficult to find stock right now at any of the leading retailers. Newegg sold out about 30 minutes ago and so has Amazon by the looks of it.
So, what now? I have a few suggestions.
Firstly, it’s worth checking if there’s a Micro Centre near you. According to the retailer’s site, there are plenty of cards stocked in-store so you may be able to reserve one if you’re local.
Secondly, you could try other retailers with significant local stock – like Best Buy, for example. It’s worth using the Best Buy chat on the retailers site to contact a sales rep to help you track down a card. This is a trick that’s worked for other products before recently so it could be worth a try here.
Newegg has finally sold out…
Yep, unfortunately so. The retailer’s cheaper $599 cards sold out within minutes but there were a few $700+ cards knocking about for a while. It looks like people eventually bit the bullet and forked out the extra for one of the higher-end models.
Struggling to get on Overclockers and Scan? Try CCL
Just a quick note – the retailer CCL has a ton of cards still available today and its site doesn’t seem to be experiencing the same heavy load as both Overclockers and Scan in the UK.
Cards are Newegg are selling out – although some remain
As I expected, a lot of the cheaper MSRP GPUs have been quick to sell out at Newegg. There are, however, quite a few cards still available at the retailer at $729 and above.
A card appears on Amazon US
Amazon has been a little slow off the mark with its RX 9070XT stock today but it looks like the retailer is finally starting to list cards. Right now, the only one is this pricey XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT edition for $820 but I expect other cards (hopefully cheaper ones) to land soon.
Stock is holding right now in the UK – but sites are experiencing heavy traffic
Overclockers has a wait list on its site right now and I can’t even get onto Scan… Not the best sign but fingers crossed there are cards left. Note that there are still cards up for grabs at Ebuyer and CCL.
Best Buy has sold out
Sorry to be the bringer of bad news – stock at this retailer has dried up already. Was that 15 minutes? It looks like Best Buy didn’t have the highest stock in the world, listing 5 cards in total.
More retailers join the fray – CCL, Ebuyer, and Newegg
I’ve just updated the list at the top of the page with more retailers who have just gone live. You’ve got plenty of choice now so it’s time to go if you’re picking up one of these cards!
Cards are live at Overclockers in the UK
Here we go, folks. One of the biggest retailers in the UK now has cards live. See them here.
Sales are live! I’ve just spotted in-stock cards at Best Buy
Here we go folks, the first US retailer that I’ve seen go live is Best Buy. Note, you will need to be a member to order these cards, so bear that in mind (membership is free).
- XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070XT (black): $599.99
- XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070XT (white): $749.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC: $819.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition (black): $829.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition (white): $849.99
30 minutes to go – here’s how I think things will play out
OK folks, so we’re just on the cusp of sales going live for both cards. From everything I’ve read so far, it’s looking like stock is pretty good. But, I have to say – demand is also looking incredibly high and the cheaper $599 / £569 cards in particular look to be on the majority of people’s shopping lists today.
Based on retailer tidbits, stock will likely hold up for a few hours but I expect those cheaper cards to probably be snapped up pretty quick. After the Nvidia launches, nothing surprises me anymore. If you’re more interested in one of the higher-end third party cards then you may have a little more leeway in terms of time.
I’ll be updating this page with stock updates at all the major retailers throughout the next few hours. Hopefully you’ll all be able to get yourselves a shiny new GPU – good luck!
Another great post from one of our writers – FSR 4 is looking strong
While you’re waiting for stock to drop, I highly recommend checking out this recently published post from our computing writer Isaiah. He’s essentially reporting on the latest industry news regarding FSR 4 – AMD’s latest update to its upscaling tech.
AMD’s FSR has traditionally lagged behind Nvidia’s DLSS when it comes to image quality but it’s looking like that gap is really starting to close. Isaiah reports that FSR 4 makes massive improvements on its predecessor when it comes to ghosting and draw distances, which was a common issue with both FSR 3 and the older DLSS versions. While the visual improvements come at a slight performance cost, the RX 9070 XT isn’t going to have any issues with that.
Our benchmarking showcases the RX 9070 XT’s price to performance
We’ve got about an hour and a half until these cards go on sale so I’m going to shamelessly promote our benchmarking here on TechRadar. You can check out our full AMD RX 9070 XT review if you want a full spread of tests but I’ve shared the overall final scores above.
While the RX 9070 XT doesn’t quite overpower the very highest-end cards from Nvidia, it does get extremely close to the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 4080 for a very, very compelling price. For reference, we tested the cards on several creative benchmarking tools as well as eight different games at both 1440p and 4K.
It’s pretty obvious why these cards are so hyped right now – they’re looking to offer excellent bang for the buck. As gamers, we’re obviously starved for a decent GPU right now so I hope AMD hits the ground running for this particular launch.
Hmmm, where did Micro Centre’s listings go?
You know, I swear Micro Centre had a number of cards listed earlier with prices. I’ve just tried to find them on the site and they’ve seemingly disappeared. Am I going crazy? Perhaps.
Anyway, regardless of where the retailer has put its listings, you can see a nice little preview of what to expect courtesy of the Radeon subreddit. A user has posted a mobile screenshot (attached above) that clearly shows how many cards at MSRP that the retailer has (or had) listed. The good news? There are plenty of $599 cards here so it should be possible to get yourself a relatively cheap graphics card – at least, for this initial batch.
More details on UK stock – it’s good news and bad news!
Our writer Darren Allen has just posted an interesting news piece on UK stock levels that’s well worth checking out. To summarize, it states that Overclockers in the UK has in fact over 4,000 cards in stock and the retailer thinks that “stock will be fine for a few days”.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that the retailer expects the MSRP cards (IE: the cheaper ones) to sell out first and that “MSRP is capped quantity of a few hundred, so prices will jump once those are sold through.” Darren thinks the prices will settle at around £600 for the cheaper models but I’m not so sure – OCUK does have a track record of hiking prices to a certain degree.
Best Buy doesn’t have many cards listed – let’s hope they have the stock
I’m a little puzzled by Best Buy’s initial listings for the RX 9070XT. First up, they do have a sole card listed at $599, but it’s only for the Black color of the XFX Swift. The White version is listed at $749, which is bonkers to me. Are people so desperate for a white card that they’ll pay an extra $150?
On top of that, it looks like the retailer is only stocking five XFX cards at launch, which isn’t much. My hope here is that each individual listing has plenty of stock to back it up! Best Buy is one of the bigger retailers obviously so it usually gets good stock – let’s hope so, at least.
Here are those five XFX cards listed out, if I see any other brands at Best Buy I’ll be sure to post an update.
- XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070XT (black): $599.99
- XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070XT (white): $749.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC: $819.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition (black): $829.99
- XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition (white): $849.99
A correction
Just a minor correction to my last post. I incorrectly stated that no US retailers have listed their stock. There are in fact cards you can already check out at both Best Buy and Micro Centre right now. That includes prices – which I’ll be taking a look at in my next post!
US sales will likely open at 9AM ET / 6AM PT
I’ve just been digging around to find details on availability in the US – specifically, when these cards will go on sale. As a bit of context, we already know that UK stock will be going live at 2PM in the UK since the retailer Overclockers has officially confirmed that.
None of the major retailers have listed times or stock just yet but this widely upvoted Reddit post states that sales will open at 6AM Pacific Time 9AM Eastern Time. These times line up with the confirmed UK time so this is almost certainly when you can expect sales to open.
There’s a wide range of prices on cards already listed
I was just browsing Overclocker’s stock of cards in the UK just now – and as expected, some of these AIB cards are much, much higher priced than the £569 MSRP that AMD stated.
There are a few cards listed at £569, like this Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT at Overclockers but they range all the way up to £799 for this Asus Radeon RX 9070 XT TUF, which is quite a variance for a card of this price point. Just based on traffic, it looks like the cheaper cards are getting more attention at the retailer right now so it could be worth jumping on those quickly if you’re interested.
It’s looking good for stock at one UK retailer
We’re used to getting burnt when it comes to GPU launches recently – most people are still waiting to get their hands on one of the latest Nvidia cards, for example. It’s too early to say whether the AMD RX 9070 and AMD RX 9070 XT will be any different, but Overclockers in the UK has teased that they have over 1,000 cards in stock on its official forum.
This is a stark contrast to the RTX 5090 and 5080 launches last month where most retailers were reportedly selling stock in the single digits. Again, it’s too early to say whether these cards will sell out but availability is looking much, much better this time around.
When are retailers going live with sales?
Right now, the only retailer that I can see with a confirmed time for sales is Overclockers in the UK, which has stated that cards will be available to buy from 2PM GMT. That will be 9AM ET for those of us joining in the US.
As of writing, I haven’t seen any word from US retailers but I expect that 2PM GMT / 8AM ET is the world wide embargo for sales. We’ll of course be on the lookout for stock in the meantime, however.
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