AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT, which many feel to be the value champion for high-end GPUs, competes against Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, but for several hundred dollars less. Up until very recently, the 9070 XT held a steady $699 retail price, but as of writing, the price has jumped to $719, a $120 hike from the $599 launch MSRP price, a 20% increase.
To help in your decision of what card you want to buy, consider what features the card offers and what you will make use of. Is ray-tracing important to you? Does frame gen technology interest you? Are the video encoders and codecs for streaming or video capture better for your associated software? Do your research; don’t just look at graphs with FPS numbers. Think about what is going to give you the most overall benefit.
Other things to also consider are the differences in the supporting software, such as FSR and DLSS, with Nvidia slightly ahead for the most part for the latest technology, but with the caveat that they are also more expensive. AMD cards this generation have offered more VRAM on lower-end GPU SKUs, which can be an important feature for gamers playing on higher-resolution monitors with game settings dialed up.
If you want a graphics card now, you don’t have much choice but to grab what you can at the lowest price that’s available to you at the moment. Holding out for the next generation of GPUs often isn’t going to save you any money; as with all technology, obsolescence is a fact of life.
We have to wait for the definitive specifications to be announced for the new GPU lineups, and until then, everything is educated guesswork and speculation. Whether reductions in onboard VRAM allocations take place, GPU die size shrinks, or core counts multiply, all wait to be seen. Whatever happens, though, one thing is guaranteed, and that is that the new lineup will be more expensive than this generation; we just don’t know yet by how much.
Finding a massive discount on a graphics card in the current economic climate is going to be limited to stores making pricing mistakes or some serious combo bundle deals from retailers. Seeing how even the Nvidia 40-series and AMD 70-series GPUs have held value and not greatly depreciated is an indication that the current generation of cards is not going to see massive discounts closer to the launch of the next generation. We hold out hope that we may see some discounts in the next Black Friday sales, but I wouldn’t count on seeing anything truly jaw-dropping, although I do hope to be proven wrong.
Stewart Bendle is a deals and coupon writer at Tom's Hardware. A firm believer in \u201cBang for the buck\u201d Stewart likes to research the best prices and coupon codes for hardware and build PCs that have a great price for performance ratio. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Stewart Bendle Social Links Navigation Deals Writer Stewart Bendle is a deals and coupon writer at Tom's Hardware. A firm believer in “Bang for the buck” Stewart likes to research the best prices and coupon codes for hardware and build PCs that have a great price for performance ratio.
usertests The article doesn't mention AMD's 9070 GRE with 12 GB. It doesn't make a lot of sense at $550, but if GDDR6 pricing deteriorates, it might get a second look. There's nothing interesting going on sub-$300, and it will remain that way at least until we see some reversal in memory pricing. I think the RX 9050 could have been better with 6 GB on 96-bit, if they had enabled 24 CUs instead of 16. Meanwhile, an RTX 5050 9GB could have been interesting at a sub-$300 price, but 3GB module pricing may have killed it (and the 5050 8GB is $300 right now anyway). A better idea is to play ancient games or pick up another hobby for a few years. Reply
nitro912gr At this point I will use my current 5500XT till it dies… The 9050 8GB could be interesting if it was coming for something like 200 euros but the latest indications who it will simple be expensive enough to not worth it compared to a 7600 8GB (I love how on release it looked bad with just 8GB… how the tides have turned…). At least I have a ton of games to play on my current hardware. Reply
usertests nitro912gr said: At this point I will use my current 5500XT till it dies… 4 GB or 8 GB? nitro912gr said: compared to a 7600 8GB (I love how on release it looked bad with just 8GB… how the tides have turned…). We're spoiled for choice on 8 GB cards, and that has suppressed some prices on the new and used markets. 9060 XT 8GB pricing bottomed out at below the current 9050 8GB MSRP… before rising again. Used RTX 3070 might be legit if you don't care about the VRAM limitation. nitro912gr said: At least I have a ton of games to play on my current hardware. That's how it is for so many people. Reply
PEnns What if they raised their prices to holy heaven…..and nobody bought their junk anymore?? We are reaching that lovely milestone any day now. I'd love to see the faces of their esteemed share holders. Reply
usertests PEnns said: What if they raised their prices to holy heaven…..and nobody bought their junk anymore?? We are reaching that lovely milestone any day now. I'd love to see the faces of their esteemed share holders. As long as they are making bank on AI accelerators, they won't care. And that point can be reached. Memory prices can simply be too high for people to want to buy, even if they sold the cards with a small margin. Silicon prices for advanced nodes are also creeping up, although it's not as dramatic. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/gpu-prices-for-current-gen-nvidia-and-amd-price-increases-why-have-the-prices-not-dropped-and-can-you-still-buy-a-cheap-gpu#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- Drone flyover reveals rapid progress at Elon Musk’s new ATCF chip fab — Texas site prepares for all-in-one logic, memory, and packaging facility
- NVIDIA Open Sources First GPU-Accelerated Medical Physics Simulation Framework
- Built for Vera Rubin, NVIDIA Spectrum-6 Arrives in Gigascale AI Factories
- GeForce NOW Sets Sail With ‘Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame’ Joining the Cloud
- Big tech spends more than $1 trillion on AI infrastructure — additional $745 billion expected to be added to the figure in 2026 alone
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.