I'm excited for the RX 9060 XT, but AMD needs to fix one major problem
The RX 9060 XT is well-positioned to succeed. It might very well be a more popular pick than Nvidia's recent RTX 5060. So why am I still worried about it?
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It's a tough time to buy a GPU
My colleague, Jon Martindale, recently said that Nvidia's RTX 50-series was the worst GPU launch in recent memory. I'm inclined to agree, but that just makes me think … What about AMD?
Going into the RX 9000 series, I made sure to temper my expectations. I knew that AMD would steer clear of the high-end this time around, and honestly, I understood. Without any major hype, I awaited the launch of the RX 9070 XT.
And I was blown away.
The RX 9070 XT offers the kind of performance you'd expect from a pricier card. Sure, AMD could (or should?) have undercut Nvidia a bit more, but the $599 price tag felt fair for what the GPU was able to offer. It was no RTX 5090 killer, but it was a solid 1440p card through and through.
Demand today for our new @amdradeon cards has been phenomenal. We are working with our AIBs to replenish stock at our partners ASAP in the coming days and weeks. MSRP pricing (excluding region specific tariffs and/or taxes) will continue to be encouraged beyond today so don't… pic.twitter.com/8VxGioMkev — Frank Azor (@AzorFrank) March 6, 2025
As I always tend to root for the underdog, I was thrilled when I saw the warm reception the RX 9070 XT received. The card was flying off the shelves, and AMD made sure that there'd be some MSRP models available, so people were getting a GPU at a reasonable price.
AMD's Frank Azor said that, despite the 'phenomenal' demand for the RX 9070 XT and non-XT, the company was working with its add-in board (AIB) partners to ensure that it'd come back soon, and with MSRP pricing being 'encouraged.'
Unfortunately, one quick peek through various retailers tells me that the encouragement may not have been enough.
The hype was real, but …
At first, the RX 9070 XT was simply largely sold out. But when it started coming back on the shelves, it was hardly ever available at MSRP anymore. Even now, when the hype has died down and the GPU is readily available at retailers, the pricing is still — well, to put it bluntly — horrible.
The cheapest RX 9070 XT I've been able to spot on Amazon sits at $839, and that's a discount from the previous price of $899. The priciest one costs $1,058.
This is for a card that was meant to sell at $599.
The RX 9070 — originally $549 — fares slightly better, but it's still overpriced. The prices sit around the $650 to $750 mark, which isn't great.
With the pricing the way it is now, AMD's new GPUs sold one important aspect of what made them so great: Value for the money. The cards, while solid, fail to impress when they're selling for $200 to $400 above the price they were meant to sell at. That $1,000 GPU pricing bracket deserves better performance than what the RX 9070 XT can provide, but at $600, AMD is the indisputable king of value in the GPU market.
It's just that the $600 MSRP doesn't seem real anymore. The prices aren't normalizing fast enough for it to drop all the way down to $600 anytime soon.
The good news (for AMD, not so much for the rest of us) is that Nvidia is sitting in the exact same boat. The RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti are all super overpriced. The RTX 5060 Ti is too, but to a smaller extent. Meanwhile, the RTX 5060 is selling at MSRP, but after various controversies surrounding the card and the lack of reviews on launch day, that might not change anytime soon.
With Nvidia also struggling to maintain the recommended list price at retailers, it's the perfect time for AMD to strike back with the RX 9060 XT — but will it?
Will history repeat itself?
I hold every hope that the RX 9060 XT will turn out to be nothing short of excellent. The 16GB version delivers something mainstream gamers are slowly growing desperate to have: More VRAM. It ramps up the pricing, but at $350, it's still cheaper than Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti. The 128-bit memory bus will stifle its bandwidth, but I'm still hopeful about it being a good card.
None of that will matter if AMD doesn't address the elephant in the room: The availability at MSRP.
The RX 9060 XT will be a mainstream, or midrange, card. Aimed mostly at 1080p gaming, it doesn't have the luxury of appealing to enthusiasts — it's made to appeal to gamers who care about the price-to-performance aspect of it. Boost the price too much, and it'll be out of reach for many PC gamers.
Fixing the MSRP issue for the RX 9070 XT is important, but addressing it for the RX 9060 XT might be even more so. With Nvidia struggling with these same problems, it'd be great for AMD to strike while the iron is hot and try to ensure that the RX 9060 XT stays at MSRP for longer than however long it takes for the first batch to sell out.
If the RX 9070 XT can beat Nvidia's RTX 5060, and it can stay near MSRP while offering 16GB of RAM, there'll be a clear winner for every upcoming midrange PC build in the next few months — and I really hope that can be the case.
I want the RX 9060 XT to succeed, and I know that it can. I'm only worried that the current market won't permit it, and that might put a dampener on the success of what otherwise seems like a great GPU.
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