
AMD achieved it! Now we must continue to exert pressure for price reductions.
Well, look at that. AMD has actually launched a graphics card that competes well in terms of price, performance, and features with Nvidia. They also managed to keep enough units in stock for the release, preventing scalpers from ruining it immediately. While this may seem like a low benchmark, it qualifies as a success story for GPU launches in 2025, especially considering Nvidia's release has been one of the worst in recent memory.
As thrilling as it is to see a new graphics card that is genuinely good and worth the investment, it is not yet time for AMD or its fans to sit back and relax. There's still work to do, particularly in reducing prices further.
The RX 9070 is still too pricey.
AMD's RX 9070 XT is an outstanding graphics card, one of the best in a long time. It delivers performance comparable to the 5070 Ti/4080 for around $600, and its feature set is impressive as well. On the other hand, the RX 9070 is a solid card with performance similar to the 5070, 16GB of VRAM, and similarly strong features. However, its price is only $50 less than the base price of the 9070 XT, which is far too close.
This reflects a similar unusual pricing strategy AMD used with the RX 7900 XT in the previous generation. With only $100 separating it from the 7900 XTX and a much larger performance disparity, the XT model didn’t make sense. It was only after AMD lowered the price that it became an excellent value option.
AMD should likely do the same with the non-XT 9070, but we need to ensure this happens. Margins are usually tight with graphics cards, but come on, AMD. Bring it down to below $500 and really challenge Nvidia's price gouging.
Nvidia needs to take action now. While it may still be the leader in performance and DLSS might be superior to FSR4, this advantage is diminishing, especially since it currently doesn't have many graphics cards available for sale. Models exist, and there are listings at retailers, but they aren't in stock and the second-hand market is chaotic (and AMD may disrupt that soon as well).
To stay competitive with AMD, Nvidia will need to reduce the prices of its 5070 and 5070 Ti and significantly increase stock levels. This likely will occur in the next few months, but price reductions will only happen if consumers choose to buy AMD’s new cards. With strong reviews and available stock, that momentum should be sustained.
If Nvidia's cards return near MSRP, they will still be too costly, particularly the 5070 Ti. Hopefully, Nvidia recognizes the trend after a few weeks of strong 9070 XT sales and acknowledges that multiple frame generation alone won’t be enough to sustain the 50-series.
All graphics cards should be more affordable than they currently are.
We need to keep this momentum going into the rest of this generation and into the next. Graphics card prices have surged significantly in recent years, and while inflation and tariffs can be blamed for a portion of it, Nvidia’s sheer greed is also a factor—AMD has been equally culpable when holding a dominant position in the CPU market.
PC gaming will always be a bit pricier than console gaming, but no one should have to pay $500+ for a graphics card to play the latest games at 4K resolution. That exceeds the cost of an entire console, even before considering the extra expense of a monitor and additional accessories.
High-end products like the RTX 5090 will always be extravagant, and to some extent, they should be. For those with large budgets, there isn't much of a difference between spending $1,500 and $2,000. However, for everyone else, there need to be better options for affordable, high-quality PC gaming.
Intel is covering the super-entry-level segment of the market, and AMD has made the right move with its 9070 XT, but I would still like to see the 9070 drop below $500 soon, and the 9060 needs to become the desirable $300 card we all know it has the potential to be.
That may be optimistic, but once Nvidia's AI-driven hype starts to face reality and that bubble bursts, it may need to remember its roots and begin offering gamers GPUs that are about more than just marketing jargon and inflated prices.




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AMD achieved it! Now we must continue to exert pressure for price reductions.
Price reductions are what graphics cards require more than anything else at this moment, even with AMD's new mid-range affordable choices. They should all be more affordable than their current prices.