Nvidia announced its GeForce RTX 4090 GPU in late September and the card drew immediate controversy. Nvidia made the decision not to begin discounting the pricing of its previous generation of cards and instead dramatically increased the price of its 4000 series cards. The RTX 4090 stood out, in particular, due to its $1,599 price tag. When AMD announced its Radeon RX 7900 XTX card would be $999, PC gamers were quick to recognize that it was $600 less than Nvidia’s RTX 4090.
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Speaking to PCWorld, AMD chief architect of gaming solutions Frank Azor clarified the situation before it grew out of hand. When the topic of pricing for both the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT was brought up, Azor immediately responded by saying, “Let’s be realistic, it’s a $999 card. It’s not a 4090 competitor, which costs 60% more. This is a 4080 competitor. Let’s be really crystal clear the class here that we’re talking about.”
What Azor is wanting to convey is that those who purchase the AMD Radeon RX 9700 XTX will not be getting Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 performance. The RX 9700 XTX is a powerful card, and AMD thinks it’s priced well, but it’s priced to compete with the RTX 4080. Nvidia’s RTX 4080 is priced at $1,299, so AMD’s card is considerably cheaper. PC gaming enthusiasts will recall that Nvidia did plan to release a more affordable $899 version of the RTX 4080, though it “unlaunched” the card following pushback over its odd branding.
It’s going to be a while yet before the media is able to fully test the AMD Radeon RX 9700 XTX and compare its performance to Nvidia’s cards. Azor insists that the RX 9700 XTX is a “winning value proposition,” so there’s confidence that even at $1,000 PC gamers will be happy with the card. Even if the RX 9700 XTX underperforms the RTX 4080, it’s still $200 cheaper.
There’s also a growing backlash against both AMD and Nvidia within the PC gaming community. They argue that whether it’s $1,600, $1,200, or $1,000, these graphics cards are too expensive. There’s a belief that graphics card companies are trying to continue the profit margins they had while cryptocurrency was booming and cards could be overpriced through the gray market. In other words, many feel like they’re being taken advantage of. Time will tell how PC gamers acclimate to these very expensive AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, regardless of their performance.
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