AMD reveals reason for delaying RDNA 4 platform launch

AMD has been notoriously tight-lipped about its highly anticipated RX 9000 series GPUs. According to industry sources, the RDNA 4 architecture (RX 9000 series) graphics cards will not be available until March of this year. Software optimization and FSR 4 challenges are the two main reasons why Team Red has been forced to delay the launch of the RDNA 4 platform. But is that the only reason, or is AMD deliberately delaying the launch to see how Nvidia's best graphics cards will perform before launching its flagship RX 9070 XT?

AMD is on track to launch the RX 9000 series in March, according to a recent revelation from AMD vice president and general manager of Ryzen CPUs and Radeon graphics David McAfee. This has caused a bit of a stir, mainly due to questions about why AMD chose to keep customers waiting for so long.

McAfee explains that AMD is currently "taking some extra time to optimize the software stack to maximize performance and enable support for more FSR 4 titles." While a bit vague, this confirms what many previous rumors have indicated: RDNA 4 is ready on the hardware side, but AMD seems to be struggling with software optimization.

Notably, the RX 9000 was spotted with pre-orders on January 22, and some retailers appear to have them in stock. McAfee acknowledged that, saying: "We also have many partners who are planning to launch Radeon 9000 series cards, and some have already started stocking them at retailers."

There are also signs that AMD seems to have some other plans in place for the release of the RDNA 4 platform, but nothing is clear yet.

If late January was the original plan for the RX 9000 series, then AMD has clearly failed. Greater availability for FSR 4 titles and improved drivers are both valid reasons for the delay, but it's also possible that AMD wanted to see how Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti would perform when it (as planned) hits the market in February.

The good news is that according to McAfee, AMD plans to launch quite a few GPUs on the RDNA 4 platform. This is a decision that could have a positive impact on the market, especially considering that Nvidia's RTX 50 series could be very difficult to buy at launch.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 28 January 2025