The release date for both the Radeon RX 9070 and the more powerful RX 9070 XT model is today – the 6th of March – and as the release time approaches we’ve seen listings for both GPUs go live in the US, Canada, and UK. Go to our where to buy RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT page for all the different AIBs that are available to buy where you are.

AMD is moving straight up to the RX 9000 series for its new RDNA 4 desktop graphics cards, skipping out the 8000 series, though this will appear in laptops. The RX 9070 XT is the flagship model in this line, which makes sense considering we previously saw AMD allude to the idea it won’t release high-end GPUs this generation. There’s also a non-XT model to think about, which comes with a lower CUDA count and clock speed but will be available for a cheaper price. AMD will hope to secure a win over Nvidia at this price point, who have suffered from low stock availability when they released their cards, including the competing RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti, and early indications are that there will be plentiful RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT stock.

RX 9070 & 9070 XT release date confirmed

Online retailers like Overclockers UK have confirmed that they will be releasing both the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT on the 6th March, 2025 at 6am US Pacific time / 9am US Eastern time / 2pm GMT. You can follow the countdown to the precise RX 9070 & RX 9070 XT release time by clicking the link to our dedicated page.

RX 9070 & 9070 XT specs confirmed

The specifications for both the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT have been confirmed on AMD’s website, and with the exception of the TFP (which came in lower than expected), everything is as the more recent rumors and leaks suggested.

Could we be getting a 32 GB Radeon RX 9070 XT?

According to a poster called zhangzhonghao on the Chiphell forum, a third variant of these graphics cards could be coming out as well: specifically a Radeon RX 9070 XT with 32GB of VRAM instead of just 16GB, to be released in 2025. He then goes on to say he believes it will ‘be released at the end of Q2’, which would mean the end of June, 2025 at the latest.

Obviously, this is just a rumor at this stage, and we don’t know how serious to take it. In addition, there is debate about how useful it would actually be to gaming – given it’s likely to come with the same memory bus and memory speed as the standard RX 9070 XT, it likely wouldn’t be able to leverage this uplift much to the point where it would benefit in-game performance. If it does release, it will likely be targeted ‘mainly for AI’ use as Mr. zhangzhonghao says.

Radeon RX 9070 & 9070 XT performance

The first RX 9070 XT benchmarks are in and confirm that the card outperforms the RTX 5070, whilst being less powerful than the RTX 5070 Ti overall, though occasionally matches the latter card on certain games at specific resolutions. Overall the new Radeon card has gone down pretty well with reviewers, particularly following the disappointment of the recent Nvidia releases.

This backs up previously leaked 3DMark tests that showed the RX 9070 XT outperforming the RTX 4080 Super. Specifically, the 9070 XT scored 14,591 points – 1,253 higher than the RTX 4080 and 497 points higher than the RTX 4080 Super.

Overall the RX 9070 XT performs close the the RX 7900 XTX (the previous-gen flagship in the Radeon GPU hierarchy) whilst being available to buy for over $200 less.

RX 9070 & 9070 XT price confirmed

People were previously hoping that AMD would price their 2025 GPUs extremely competitively, with predictions hoping for $499 for the lower SKU card and $599 for the higher one, however, this seems to have been fairly wishful thinking.

The pricing we’ve seen so far for listed items has been in the range of $629-$669 for the Radeon RX 9070 and $729-$849 for the RX 9070 XT, with the price differing depending on the specific AIB you pick up. Given their respectable performance, particularly for the RX 9070 XT, this is still a reasonable price point when compared to Nvidia’s cards.

How many GPUs will be in the RX 9000 series?

Back in September, before the rebranding, we reported that the new generation of AMD cards should offer at least four models. This is based on news of two SKUs each for the Navi 44 and Navi 48 GPUs. Both the 9070 and 9070 XT are expected to utilize the higher-end Navi 48, possibly leaving space for two more. However, with rumors of a full range of RX 9070, 9060, 9050, and 9040 graphics cards, we’re excited to see what exactly is announced and released during January and beyond.

Will there be an RX 8000 series?

Yes, but the Radeon 8000 series won’t be for desktop GPUs, instead they will be limited to laptops. As we mentioned earlier, AMD’s desktop GPUs have jumped from the RX 7000 series straight to the RX 9000 series. This came as a surprise – but it has been explained. As part of its CES 2025 press release, it was revealed that the 8000 series is reserved for RDNA 3.5 mobile graphics (i.e. for laptops).

AMD has also revealed the reason why it’s changing the name of its new Radeon GPUs is due to two factors. Firstly, so they are in line with its current generation of desktop processors (the Ryzen 9000 series). You also may notice AMD is now using Nvidia’s ’90xx’ naming convention and this has been done to “simplify [the] model system to match [its] direct competitor”.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.