- An AMD exec has explained why RDNA 4 GPUs won’t launch until March
- The reason is to ensure the drivers are fully honed and FSR 4 is more widely supported
- On top of that, there’s a mention of making sure plenty of RX 9070 stock is on hand
AMD has provided a reason why the launch of its RX 9070 graphics cards was announced as happening in March 2025, when the hope – based on chatter from the grapevine, and quite a lot of it – was for an earlier release in Q1.
As made clear by David McAfee on X, AMD’s VP and GM of Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics, the company is “taking a little extra time to optimize the software stack for maximum performance and enable more FSR 4 titles.”
I really appreciate the excitement for RDNA4. We are focused on ensuring we deliver a great set of products with Radeon 9000 series. We are taking a little extra time to optimize the software stack for maximum performance and enable more FSR 4 titles. We also have a wide range…January 22, 2025
So, AMD is tuning graphics drivers to work as well as possible with the incoming RX 9070 offerings, and to bring more PC games into the fold of being supported by FSR 4.
Furthermore, the exec from Team Red also indicates that building up stock is part of the equation when it comes to pitching the launch of RDNA 4 GPUs later in Q1, rather than earlier.
Analysis: A new tack from AMD – don’t rush, get it right?
This second announcement in short order from McAfee appears to serve a few possible purposes. Of course, on a surface level, it’s good to be kept up to date with what’s going on, and to hear why Team Red is taking more time on this. And I think this is something AMD needed to clarify, as there were a lot of rumors bubbling around what’s happening behind closed doors with RDNA 4.
One of the more frustrating elements of the ‘delay’ of RDNA 4 – which isn’t strictly a delay, seeing as AMD only ever said Q1 2025 for the launch, and that can be as late as March (though admittedly, not any later) – was the apparent appearance of multiple RX 9070 models at retailers. Seasoning needed to be sprinkled over those sightings, naturally, but there were a number of photos, all of which looked authentic enough (it seemed unlikely they were all fakes somehow). These led to some bewilderment and frustration as to why AMD isn’t just ‘getting on with it’ as it were.
McAfee indirectly addresses this with his latest comment, in the mention of some retail partners having “started building initial inventory” but that there’s much more to come. This explains those photo leaks and also assures us that there’ll be plenty of RDNA 4 stock on hand – also playing into, and capitalizing on, the worries that Nvidia won’t have a decent level of inventory for its RTX 5000 graphics cards (at least not initially for RTX 5090 and 5080 models).
All of this is deflecting away from the rumor that AMD has gotten involved in price wrangles with retail partners (who already ordered and received RX 9070 models or at least some stock) after seeing Nvidia’s unexpectedly low MSRPs for Blackwell desktop GPUs.
Furthermore, another concern aired about RDNA 4 was that support for FSR 4 might be thin on the ground to begin with, especially compared to DLSS 4, as Nvidia has a lot of support right out of the gate.
So, it does make sense to address this, and more broadly focus on making the RX 9070 launch as good as it can be – in terms of FSR, drivers, and stock availability. Granted, the fact that the RTX 5070 should already be out in February, and fully tested, to allow for better pitching of the price of the RX 9070 and its XT sibling, is obviously a benefit here too. (If AMD hasn’t yet finalized the price – which, given the overall picture, seems likely to be the case).
This main thrust of making the RDNA 4 launch a high-quality affair also chimes with what Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) just shared in his latest video (see above). The YouTuber notes that AMD has switched strategy under Jack Huynh (Senior VP of Computing and Graphics) to avoid rushing out products when the market – or launches from rivals – demands them to arrive, and instead, take the time to get the hardware fully right.
And I can’t argue with that strategy because, well, it fully makes sense, and MLID’s sources also make it clear that they aren’t worried that RX 9070 models might disappoint.
So, while I’d like to buy a new mid-range GPU sooner rather than later, I’m just going to have to be patient, as will everyone else. Because even if that is a bit frustrating, if RDNA 4 pans out very well as a result, it will, of course, be worth the wait.
Via VideoCardz