PC gamers are getting pretty darn antsy for new desktop GPUs. Nvidia’s newest cards sold out pretty much instantly worldwide despite astronomical prices, and AMD failing to show off its new Radeon designs at CES 2025 last month was seen as a snub. But it looks like we won’t have to wait much longer for the RX 9070 and 9070 XT — because they’re hitting shelves “in early March,” according to the CEO.
The initial announcement had the next-gen Radeon cards landing in “Q1,” which would set the end of March as a deadline. Then, a couple of weeks ago, AMD doubled down on March as a target. As of yesterday’s earnings call, we can now narrow that down to the earlier half of the month, so you could be holding a new Radeon GPU in just a few weeks.
“RDNA 4 delivers significantly better ray tracing performance and adds support for AI-powered upscaling technology that will bring high-quality 4K gaming to mainstream players when the first Radeon 9070 series GPUs go on sale in early March,” said Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO.
The earnings call also highlighted great sales for desktop CPUs, like the in-demand Ryzen 9 9800X3D, with client segment revenue climbing 58 percent year over year. That’s overshadowed by a precipitous drop in the gaming sector, as Nvidia dominates the GPU space on PCs and demand for current-gen consoles wanes. (Both the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are based on AMD chip designs.) The next generation of Radeon cards could be a make-or-break moment for AMD. The company is planning on combining reports for the Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU sections of its business in the future.
Of course, that doesn’t mean a lot for end users who are looking forward to the RX 9070 and 9070 XT as a (hopefully) budget alternative to those new Nvidia cards. We don’t know much about these new cards yet, aside from the fact that they’re based on the new RDNA 4 architecture. An event is rumored for later in February, so far unconfirmed.
How much will they cost? That’s hard to say without knowing more about the hardware inside. The model number scheme has changed, and AMD’s positioning the new cards as replacements for the RX 7900 XT, 7900 GRE, and 7800 XT ($900, $550, and $500 at launch, respectively). It’s a wide range. And with world trade currently being thrown into chaos by active and insipient tariffs from the Trump regime, it’s anyone’s guess how much more expensive new electronics will be a month from now.