As AMD confirms there will be no reference design for its Radeon RX 9070 series, official gaming benchmarks show impressive gains. PC users are anxiously awaiting the launch of AMD’s RDNA4-based GPUs, which are increasingly looking like very capable mid-range graphics cards for 1440p and 4K gaming. Pricing, and possibly more importantly, availability, will play key factors in its commercial success should its performance gains pan out to be true in real-world testing.
Even as AMD confirms (via VideoCardz) that there will be no reference models available it does seem a bit odd that the GPU manufacturer continues to use artistic renders in multiple advertising images that resemble one. An image (feature image above) leaked in December showed what was thought to be an RX 9070 XT reference model. Below is a post from AMD stating the card in the image is not available for purchase.
It’s almost time. Meet the next gen AMD Radeon RX 9000 series on February 28th at 8am ET/7am CT/5am PT.
— AMD Radeon (@amdradeon) February 21, 2025
Subscribe to the AMD Gaming YouTube channel to watch the unveiling LIVE! https://t.co/i2PqeEq5DI pic.twitter.com/KHehyExFMf
Per VideoCardz:
“AMD has just confirmed that the render the company first revealed in a mishap during Reddit marketing won’t be sold. The card we see in the pictures is not going on sale, so presumably the dual-slot version we saw in the same marketing slide won’t be sold either.”
The above image could potentially be an RX 9070 as there are slight differences from the other slides and it has been stated both reference designs are not for sale. Perhaps there are a limited number of these graphics cards in circulation that have been made for internal testing. Meanwhile, VideoCardz sources managed to obtain gaming performance metrics showing both GPUs competing favorably against its Radeon 7900 GRE and Radeon RX 6800 XT models. Previous leaks have already said that the RX 9070 series will duke it out with NVIDIA’s RTX 4070/4080 graphics cards but it’s beginning to appear they could trade blows with the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 despite its obvious naming appearing to make it a director competitor to the RTX 5070.
Per VideoCardz:
AMD RX 9070 series release details
It’s been rumored that the review embargo for AMD’s latest consumer GPUs will lift the same day as the launch of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5070 on March 5th, that is if Team Green doesn’t delay its launch. AMD is also expected to hold an official event for the RX 9000 series this week on February 28th. It is believed (hoped) that the RX 9070 will launch at $549 and both models could feature 16 GB of GDDR6 memory.
One thing that’s unlikely to be spoken about anytime soon is the possibility of a 32 GB variant which has become a will-they/won’t-they scenario following multiple rumors from various sources. Frank Azor, Chief architect of Gaming Solutions and Marketing at AMD, seemingly disputed the idea of a RX 9070 XT 32 GB model but it was only a day later when the OP of the rumor re-enforced their claim but also clarified it’s actually going to be a RX 9070 XTX.
