AMD believes it can maintain close-to-MSRP prices for its Radeon RX 9000 cards, despite rocketing DRAM prices. Speaking to Gizmodo, David McAfee, AMD VP and GM of client channel business, indicated that AMD’s long-term partnerships should keep it safe for years to come when it comes to memory allocation.
With the entire PC market suffering from the RAM supply crunch, no product is safe from price hikes, including those that seemingly have nothing to do with memory. AMD is aware that RAM shortages are the biggest risk currently facing Radeon products, and says it’s working actively to limit their impact. When asked about the ongoing situation, McAfee said: “We have very strategic partnerships over many, many years with all the DRAM manufacturers to make sure that both the amount of supply that we need and the economics of what we’re able to buy from them are what we can support in our graphics business.”
McAfee also told Gizmodo that AMD is working with AIC (add-in card) manufacturers to maintain prices closer to its suggested MSRPs. That means $299 and $349 for the RX 9060 XT 8GB and RX 9060 XT 16GB respectively, and $549 and $599 for the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT.
Pricing pressure has already started showing its mark on some models, which are showing a $200 markup over their original price. We’re not even talking about MSRP cards here either; those are nowhere to be seen. For instance, the cheapest RX 9070 XT we could find in the US demands a $100 premium. The situation is less severe in the UK, where this GPU can be found just £30 above MSRP.
Despite current market conditions, McAfee indicated that AMD is trying to strike a balance, stating that “without the memory at the right price, building graphics cards with our add-in-board partners that hit the right price and market, that’s tough math to put together.” He added that managing the memory ecosystem very closely is at the core of what AMD is doing.
