An AMD rep earned a round of laughter after making a small joke during a round table event when he commented about the current lack of inventory. AMD managed to hit the ball out of the park with its latest Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070XT GPU launch. It had previously said its focus for the RNDA 4-based GPUs would be to compete at the mid-level graphics card tier with the aim of producing lower-cost products and Team Red has definitely come out swinging with both fists. AMD’s Japan marketing manager Yoshiaki Sato joined board partner reps from ASRock, GIGABYTE, PowerColor, Sapphire, and voice actress Ms. Saki Suzuki at a spring product launch event in Japan’s popular Akihabara shopping district.
While AMD has absolutely received praise for its ability to get products to stores with the Radeon RX 9000 series launch, inventory has already begun to dry up. AMD’s board partners all shared similar concerns of being unable to produce more graphics cards to which Mr. Sato quipped, “AMD isn’t used to selling graphics cards…”, causing the room to erupt in laughter. Mr. Sato added on a positive note that “Radeon’s sales share in Japan has reached 45%, and we are at our peak now.”
Representatives from ASRock and ASUS kept things rolling with their own statements. Mr. Haraguchi (ASRock) replied that how AMD needs to aim higher for a 70% market share since it has typically been a minority in the consumer market, to which Mr. Ichikawa of ASUS added “We’ve never been the ruling party!” causing the room to once again burst out with laughter. While AMD is working towards producing more GPUs for its board partners an ongoing concern will be what prices the next batches arrive at.
To MSRP or not to MSRP?
MSRP has become a hot topic with the latest generation of graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA. AMD has set an attractive $549 MSRP for its RX 9070 and then $599 for the flagship RX 9070XT. Both GPUs have been shown to compete very favorably with RTX 50 series GPUs that cost more. However, something both companies have had great difficulty in doing is producing enough GPUs at a low enough cost for board partners to offer graphics cards at MSRP. It has become a new norm for board partners to raise, or at least stop offering, products at MSRP not long after product launch, sometimes in as little as a week of release. Previously some partners claimed NVIDIA’s pricing recommendations were akin to “charity“.
Both companies have stated record high shipments, although AMD has better managed to visibly prove its claims with pallets of products being seen at various storefronts. Those looking for the lowest-priced RTX 50 series cards have slim to zero options as they try to scrounge for a Founders Edition model or one of the very few MSRP partner models and while there appear to be more Radeon 9000 series cards at the manufacturer’s recommended price those too have disappeared. AMD has also chosen not to release its “Made by AMD”, in-house graphics cards this time around. One theory that’s been suggested is that neither GPU manufacturer can produce their GPUs at low enough costs to support high enough profit margins. Regardless, inventory remains scarce at MSRP levels and the concept of value continues to reach mythical proportions.
Discussion (17 replies)
Join Discussion →I assume nvidias massive price cuts and rebates are coming any minute now?
Nvidia could raise their MSRP by 50% and they'd still sell out every shipment the moment it hits retail, in my opinion, given current demand.
An unrepentant MBA would do it in a heartbeat, but I'm sure there's a VP that understands what kind of backlash they'd receive and that the increase in revenue wouldn't be worth the (further) loss in respect gamers have for Nvidia in terms of being able to deliver something they can actually buy.
(personally, I'd prefer some situation where prices go up until product starts accumulating on shelves, and then sales happen - i.e., let the market adjust prices until supply and demand start to level off evenly - this would I hope ensure that those that feel that they need these GPUs can get them without empowering scalpers, and once these folks are satisfied, parts become available to your average Joe at relatively accessible prices)
Welcome to Europe, I see some cards drop in price, not enough to tempt me yet, but the 50 seris has been in stock around here since launch, then again prices here are double MSRP or more still somewwhat surprised they can keep em in stock.
For example the MSI suprim liquid 5090 is down to 4.499€ from 4.799€, while the Asus astral LC is still at 4.999€
Somme 5080's dropped 100-200€ but those are the base models that should be the MSRP ones and are still 1.799-1.899€
I still think the 9070 and 9070XT will sell well even if the Nvidia cards suddenly come in stock. People are jaded at Nvidia over the pricing, especially with the AMD cards very close in performance for a lot less.
Here in the statistically poorest country of the EU, the 5090 is not in stock at all, there are only a couple of 5080s available. From €1800 to €2200
And I thought I overpaid for my 4080 at 1200.
Yeah, not happy with NV or the market in general. This is the first generational launch that I've, so far, skipped due to the insanity of it all. The only thing that would make sense with my build(s) is getting a 5090 and I refuse to pay more than MSRP for it. Meanwhile, I get the various alerts for a shuffle, etc., and the median is $2500-$2900. Screw that.
Also, I'm not happy with how board partners on both sides keep raising prices. I agree that it'd be nice to see some price correction down the road but I'm pretty sure the discounts will be minimal but also have doubts they'll truly happen. Inventory supply is tight enough to prevent that from ever happening again, else I would've tried to get a 2nd 4090 during the summer for MSRP, or less, if it existed.
Still only half of the European price
Well when there are only 4 cards total, it doesn’t take many rich kids (or rich adults who still play like kids) to clear the shelves.
and still more than I'm willing to pay.
Nvidia recently announced the 6090. Not only is it the model number, but also the MSRP!
Yep I've heard that one and on up to the 9090. That reminds me that now that AMD's changed it's naming nomenclature to match NV, they'll change theirs again next time around just to throw everyone off.
I'm not sure they were ever listed to begin with. What does it mean to play like kids?
You know have money to throw away just to have fun. Kids like to have fun for funs sake.
Adults who never had to grow up / hold a job / accept accountability / etc. Usually kids of rich families, but seems like a lot of the new crowd of "influencers" fall under this as well.
Ah, I get it. It's more like living like kids, not having any responsibilities. Because I don't think I play games any different now compared to when I wasn't a legal adult.