- An AMD manager has explained why RDNA 4 GPUs are not launched before March
- The reason is to ensure that the drivers are fully refined and that FSR 4 is more widely supported
- On top of that there is a mention of ensuring that there are plenty of RX 9070 storage available
AMD has given a reason why the launch of their RX 9070 graphics card was announced as happening in March 2025, when hope-based on talk from the vine, and a great deal of it-was for a previous release in Q1.
As was made clear by David McAfee on X, AMD’s VP and GM for Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics, “the company spends a little extra time optimizing the software stack for maximum performance and enables multiple FSR 4 titles.”
I really appreciate the excitement for RDNA4. We are focused on ensuring that we deliver a fantastic set of products with the Radeon 9000 series. We spend a little extra time optimizing the software stack for maximum performance and activating multiple FSR 4 titles. We also have a wide range…January 22, 2025
So AMD tuner graphics drivers to work as well as possible with the incoming RX 9070 offerings, and to bring more PC games to be supported by FSR 4.
Furthermore, the manager of Team Red also indicates that the structure of warehouse is part of the equation when it comes to launching RDNA 4 GPUs later in Q1, rather than before.
Analysis: A new grip from AMD – don’t hurry, get it right?
This second message in short order from McAfee seems to serve a few possible purposes. Of course, on the surface, it is good to be kept up to date with what is going on and hear why Team Red spends more time on this. And I think it’s something AMD needed to clarify as there were many 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 is strictly not a delay, as AMD only ever told the Q1 2025 to the launch, and it may be as late as March (but admitted, not later) – – Was the apparent appearance of multiple RX 9070 models at dealers. Of course, spice had to be sprinkled over these observations, but there were a number of images that everyone looked authentic enough (it seemed unlikely that they were all forgeries somehow). These led to some confusion and frustration at why AMD didn’t just ‘get on with it’ as it was.
McAfee indirectly addresses this with its latest comment, in the mention of some retail partners who have “started building initial inventory,” but that there is much more in store. This explains these photo leaks and also assures us that there will be plenty of RDNA 4 shares at hand-also plays into and exploits the concerns that NVIDIA will not have a decent inventory for its RTX 5000 graphics cards (at least Not in the first place for RTX 5090 and 5080 models).
All of this is derived away from the rumor that AMD has been involved in pricing with retail partners (who have already ordered and received RX 9070 models or at least some stock) after seeing Nvidia’s unexpectedly low MSRPs for Blackwell Desktop GPU ‘ is.
Furthermore, another concern that was aired around RDNA 4 was that the support for FSR 4 may have been 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 makes sense to address this and more widely focus on making the RX 9070 launch as good as it can be-in terms of FSR, drivers and storage accessibility. Granted, the fact that the RTX 5070 should already be out in February, and fully tested, to allow for a better price increase on the RX 9070 and its XT siblings, is of course also an advantage here. (If AMD has not yet completed the price – which, given the overall picture, seems to be the case).
This main effort to get RDNA 4 to launch an affair of high quality also matches what Moore’s Law is Dead (Mlid) has just shared in his latest video (see above). YouTuber notes that AMD has changed strategy under Jack Huynh (Senior VP of Computing and Graphics) to avoid rushing products when the market – or launching from competitors – requires them to arrive, and instead take the time to get the hardware Absolutely right.
And I can’t argue with that strategy because it makes full sense, and Mlid’s sources also make it clear that they are not worried that the RX 9070 models can disappoint.
So even though I would like to buy a new middle-class GPU before rather than later, I just have to be patient, just like everyone else will. Because even though it is a bit frustrating, if RDNA 4 comes out really well, it will of course be worth the wait.
Via Videocardz
