It’s no secret that PC component prices have been hit hard by the ongoing memory crisis. Putting potential upgrades on the back burner has become a common theme for enthusiasts in 2026, but if you are feeling the need for a refresh, there are still a few outliers to consider.
One such example is the Radeon RX 9070 16GB graphics card, which, as of this morning, can be found for £489 here in ol’ Blighty. That’s just over 7% lower than the official AMD MSRP, and the lowest price to date. The card in question is a PowerColor Reaper, with models from Asus, Gigabyte and Sapphire typically fetching a little more.
PowerColor Reaper RX 9070 16GB
“It packs enough rasterisation performance to either outperform GeForce RTX 5070 at best or be a handful of frames behind at worst. Combine this with a larger 16GB frame buffer and it becomes an attractive mainstream option” Read our Radeon RX 9070 review.
There have been rumours of the 9070’s demise, with AMD reportedly prioritising the faster RX 9070 XT as a result of the memory shortage. How exactly Team Red’s product stack evolves throughout 2026 remains to be seen, but it’s almost certain that these prices won’t hold for long.
Temptation to lean toward the XT variant remains, especially with partner cards hovering close to MSRP in current 9070 XT deals, but for anyone on a strict budget, keeping on the right side of £500 makes the regular RX 9070 an attractive proposition.
Often beating its rival GeForce RTX 5070 in terms of pure rasterisation, the Radeon RX 9070 also touts greater future proofing courtesy of 16GB of GDDR6 memory. While it’s true the GeForce holds sway with regards to upscaling and frame-generation tech, the Radeon continues to close the gap with the latest FSR Redstone updates.
QHD gameplay is the sweet spot, with Radeon RX 9070 routinely delivering well in excess of 100fps in our own benchmarks at 2560×1440, and its total system power consumption of ~350W is about as good as it gets in this segment. While we don’t encourage aftermarket GPU mods, this particular card has been known to unlock even greater performance via a BIOS flash.
It’s hard to predict what tomorrow brings amid this outlandish AI boom, let alone next month, but in the here and now, there’s no doubt this is a good price for a solid graphics card.
