We are just a few weeks away from the confirmed “early March” launch window for AMD’s RDNA 4-based RX 9070 series GPUs, but we still have no confirmed pricing information. While leaked pricing from Canada Computers showed the PowerColor Reaper RX 9070 XT listed at $697 USD, nothing official has been announced. However, this leaked pricing might be close to what AMD will actually offer for the 9070 series.

This comes from X, where tech YouTuber TechEpiphany made a post saying, “RDNA4 prices will disappoint a lot of people…” – hinting that the upcoming RX 9070 GPUs might not be priced $100 lower but could even cost more than Nvidia's RTX 5070.

RTX 4080 performance for $500?

According to performance leaks, the RX 9070 XT is expected to offer better, if not similar, performance as the RTX 4080. In fact, a leaked 3DMark Time Spy Extreme test shows the RX 9070 XT scoring 14,591 points – 1,253 points higher than the RTX 4080 and 497 points higher than the RTX 4080 Super. Similarly, in the 3DMark Speed Way test, the RX 9070 XT scored 6,345 points, which is 844 points higher than the RTX 4070 Ti.

On top of that, some early gaming benchmarks in Monster Hunter Wilds suggest it could perform nearly as well as the RTX 4090, which would no doubt be a triumph for Team Red. However, nothing has been confirmed just yet.

Judging by this leaked performance, many are questioning that, on one hand, gamers are looking at performance even better than the RTX 4080 Super, which has an MSRP of $999, but want to pay the price of an RTX 4070, which retails at $500. To this, many argue that Nvidia’s RTX 5070 is set to cost $549 and offers on-par performance with last-gen's flagship RTX 4090. However, the important bit that’s left out is that this is RX 9070 XT’s raw performance, whereas the RTX 5070 puts up a challenge using a big support of Nvidia’s latest AI technologies.

The RTX 5070 Ti costs $749 but finding one at MSRP won’t be easy

Instead of comparing the RX 9070 XT to the RTX 5070, a comparison with the upcoming RTX 5070 Ti would make more sense, as benchmarks show it's slower than the RTX 5080 but faster than the RTX 4070 Ti Super. And this GPU is priced at $749. But even then finding it at this price will be challenging, as similar situations were seen with the RTX 5090 and 5080, which were selling for three times their MSRP.

So, a much more realistic pricing expectation for the RX 9070 XT would be in line with the RTX 5070 Ti, as that's the card it's competing with—not the RTX 5070. This means that if AMD could price the GPU not just $50 less but $100 less than the RTX 5070 Ti while offering better performance, that would be a winning move. And with that, those leaked $700 price tags are starting to look more and more accurate.

AMD has stated that they are listening to RX 9070 series price demands, and rumors suggest the pricing will be aggressive. However, gamers expecting the series to deliver RTX 4080-level performance for $500 are definitely going to be in for a major disappointment.

About the Author

Hassam Nasir

Hassam boasts over seven years of professional experience as a dedicated PC hardware reviewer and writer.