AMD promised a good balance of price and performance for the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT

AMD’s head of gaming, Frank Azor, in an interview with video blogger Michael Quesada, hinted at the cost of the new Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 video cards, and also explained in more detail why the company decided not to compete in the high-end video card segment .

Image source: VideoCardz

AMD’s top manager briefly explained once again why the company did not hold a full presentation of the new generation of video cards based on the RDNA 4 architecture. He noted that there was not enough time to discuss the new generation of graphics and the RDNA 4 architecture. The company couldn’t expand its announcement beyond the 45 minutes allotted for the presentation or skip AI-related topics in favor of Radeon RX 9070 series graphics cards and Ryzen Z2 processors for portable consoles, which were also not mentioned during the official keynote. AMD understands that many gamers and the press were disappointed with this decision. However, Azor said that the company will hold a separate event at which it will tell all the details about the new RDNA architecture, video cards, as well as the new FSR 4 technology.

«For the announcements of RDNA 2 and RDNA 3, we held separate events where we talked about improving architectures and performance. We couldn’t cover all these topics in five minutes. If we did that, everyone would be even angrier at us for not giving the new graphics cards more attention they deserve. Therefore, we have reserved a separate event for the announcement of new video cards, where we can give them due attention. We will also talk about new software developments, such as AMD FSR 4,” Azor commented.

The conversation also touched upon the cost of new video cards based on the RDNA 4 architecture. The head of AMD’s gaming department clarified that the new cards will not cost $300, but at the same time they will not be offered for $1000. They will be rated somewhere in the middle. As for the performance of the new products, Azor did not provide new information on this matter. However, he noted that the RX 9070 series of graphics cards will offer a performance-to-price ratio similar to the previous generation Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 GRE models.

«We are going to present a very competitive product. Everyone will love this launch. It’s worth the wait […] The Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 GRE were aggressively priced for their performance. The market responded well, especially with prices constantly rising. AMD remains focused on delivering a balance of value for money. When we announce RDNA 4, we’ll also be introducing a powerful graphics card—not a $300 card, but not a $1,000 card either. We are confident that most people will see it as a good product at a good price. Its balance of power and price will be comparable to the RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 GRE,” Azor said.

Regarding high-end video card models, he responded with the following: “With the launch of RDNA 2 and RDNA 3, we began producing cards that cost $1000. If you want to offer a full stack of models, then you will need to [develop] three or four chips, which will require significant resources – people, money and time. Mid-range chips also cost more due to additional costs inherited from high-end models. Most users want everything that competitors offer above $1,000, but that’s not our goal.”

Image Source: AMD

Azor also briefly touched on the topic of FSR 4 and talked about whether the new technology will be supported by previous generations of Radeon video cards. According to him, only RDNA 4 generation video cards have all the necessary power to use FSR 4. However, AMD’s top manager added that the company wants to optimize FSR 4 for the RDNA 3 architecture and is already working on it:

«We have significantly improved our ray tracing performance and have a significant selection of games that support ray tracing. This technology is becoming more important and that is why we are investing heavily in it. AMD FSR 3 will continue to evolve because it works on every graphics card on the market because it doesn’t rely on machine learning. However, it has its limitations in visual quality. Using machine learning, we can achieve higher image quality, but this requires adequate computing power. That’s why RDNA 4 graphics cards can work with FSR 4. We may be able to optimize FSR 4 to run on the RDNA 3 architecture. We want to do that and we’re working on it now, but we need to work on that.”