After a bumpy lead-up to the launch of the RX 9000 series, pricing is the one thing that AMD needs to get right. The latest leaks imply that AMD will price the cards “very aggressively,” which could be good news — but it might still not be enough for it to rival some of the best graphics cards.

A careful approach to pricing

As soon as it became clear that AMD wouldn’t be making a flagship GPU this time around, I knew that pricing would be more impactful than ever before. Intel has proven time and time again that performance per dollar is crucial if you’re not Nvidia, which benefits from massive brand recognition. AMD surely knows this, too, and the latest leak implies that it’s going to go all-in on the pricing.

As reported by IT Home and the Chiphell forums, AMD’s plan is to price the RX 9070 XT aggressively. Unfortunately, the report doesn’t divulge any pricing brackets, so we’re still left to guess — but at least we know that leakers believe AMD’s intent is to keep things competitive.

A week or so ago, one retailer claimed that the RX 9070 XT was meant to cost $900, which would’ve been an instant nail in the coffin for RDNA 4. Fortunately, AMD itself has refuted these claims, saying that a $900 price point was never part of the plan.

Of course, this prompted many to ask when we’ll finally find out the pricing, to which AMD’s Frank Azor replied: “In the future.” These vague responses don’t inspire much confidence in the fate of RDNA 4, but Azor later went on to say that the cards would be arriving in early March, which definitely helps.

Pricing-wise, AMD is kind of stuck between two vastly differing strategies adopted by its competitors. We’ve got Nvidia, which often sells really expensive GPUs, and we’ve got Intel’s highly affordable Arc GPUs on the other end of that spectrum. The latter approach is what makes GPUs like the B580 such good value, but Nvidia’s “performance first” angle works well most of the time — although gamers tend to push back if the mainstream cards are too pricey. However, that’s not exactly the case this time around.

Sure, we could argue that $750 for the RTX 5070 Ti and $550 for the RTX 5070 is still a high price, but it’s also a price cut compared to the previous generation. Going into the RTX 50-series, I expected the prices to go up, not down, but luckily, that’s only been the case with the RTX 5090. (Of course, finding a GPU at the recommended list price is another story entirely.)

While Nvidia spilled all of the beans at CES 2025, AMD kept suspiciously quiet. I’m making an assumption here, but it’s one that many leakers share: AMD may have wanted to see the pricing and the performance of the RTX 5070 and the RTX 5070 Ti. Now that we at least know how much they’ll cost, AMD can tailor its “aggressive” approach to pricing.

Unfortunately, while “aggressive” sounds good in this context, it could really mean just about anything — which is why it’s too soon to celebrate. What might seem like competitive pricing to one person may not seem that way to another, so it’s important to put that report into perspective and figure out just what AMD will be up against.

And trust me, there are plenty of cards that AMD will be competing against once the RX 9070 XT finally hits the market.

There’s more than just one rival

Without a full spec sheet, it’s hard to know what to expect from the RX 9070 XT — but we know enough to have a rough idea. Early performance leaks show it rivaling the RTX 4080, but that’s an optimistic guess. AMD itself doesn’t expect its new top GPU to beat the RX 7900 XTX, which leaves the RX 9070 XT with both the best and the worst pricing and performance bracket to be in: The mainstream segment.

AMD will have to rival the likes of Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti/non-Ti, but also the RTX 4070 Ti (and Super) or the RTX 4080 with its new flagship. There are some good news on that front, because Nvidia has already ceased production for most of its RTX 40-series GPUs. The few that are still in stock are currently overpriced in anticipation of the next-gen equivalents. Meanwhile, good luck finding the RTX 5080 at MSRP.

But the market won’t be empty for long. Once the RTX 5070 Ti is here (which, as MSI has now confirmed, should be on February 20), followed by the RTX 5070, the mainstream market will hopefully once again have some GPUs to pick up at list price. Unfortunately for AMD, the RX 9070 XT won’t be here before that happens, so all that it can hope for is that Nvidia and its partners fail to deliver enough stock of the xx70 GPUs.

As is often the case with AMD, its own cards are its fiercest competitors. The RX 9070 XT will have a lot of older siblings that will offer similar performance; think the RX 7800 XT, the RX 7900 XT, the RX 7900 GRE, or even the RX 7900 XTX for those who want to splurge. Some of those cards cost more than what the RX 9070 XT might be priced at, but the RX 7800 XT is still highly competitive at just $520.

With so many GPUs to choose from, pricing the RX 9070 XT is going to be a make-or-break type of situation for AMD. We might have a hit on our hands if Team Red undercuts the Nvidia equivalents by a decent margin, but without a marked difference, the RX 9070 XT might be facing an uphill climb.

AMD could have the best product, but…

I’ve been pretty open about the fact that I was genuinely excited about the RX 9070 XT. However, at this point, the excitement dulled down and transformed into something akin to worry.

Based on leaks, it seems like AMD might be cooking up (or has cooked up, as the cards are already sitting around at various retailers) a good product. It might turn out to be a solid mainstream card, and if AMD’s goal will be to make it good value and not just cheaper than Nvidia, it could even be a hit.

I still can’t help but worry, because now, AMD has more than one obstacle to overcome.

In all likelihood, Nvidia will hit the market first — again — with the RTX 5070 Ti and the RTX 5070. In fact, the first of the two might launch in as little as ten days. Meanwhile, AMD enthusiasts are still largely kept in the dark; following various AMD execs on X (Twitter) is the only reliable way to get some information. Even then, it’s been scarce.

If AMD doesn’t talk about the RX 9070 XT soon, then all of the attention will turn to Nvidia’s new releases. This means AMD is running out of time to reveal the specs and the pricing of the RX 9070 XT. People might wait to buy a GPU if they know what they’re waiting for, but with no updates from AMD, it’s hard to feel confident about the upcoming launch.

Now, there are so many elements at play that may affect the launch of the RX 9000 series: Competitive pricing, timing, specs, performance, and communication. If the leaks are true, we can at least count on AMD keeping it affordable — hopefully under $600.

The next step is for AMD to actually talk about RDNA 4 at length and start driving up the hype. I just hope it’s not too late.