The much-anticipated GPU launch is officially set for tomorrow, but if you’re eyeing the Founders Edition, you’re in for a wait until late March.
NVIDIA Pushes Back the Retail Debut of the RTX 5070 FE Until Later in March
The unveiling of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5070 FE GPU has hit a bump in the road, and this bit of news doesn’t come directly from NVIDIA. Instead, Andreas Schilling shared that he received an email from them about the delay. Although the review embargo on the RTX 5070 lifted just a few hours ago, and the retail launch was slated for tomorrow, plans have changed.
According to Schilling, NVIDIA reached out a mere few hours before the review embargo lifted, breaking the news about the delay. So, if you had your hopes up to snag a Founders Edition of the GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, you’re likely out of luck for now. It’s uncertain if this delay will ripple through to the retail roll-out of the partner editions, but considering recent chatter about the GPU’s availability, it seems it might be hard to come by.
Tweet: "Think you’ll grab a GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition tomorrow? Think again. We got the heads up from NVIDIA just 2 1/2 hours pre-review drop: ‘The RTX 5070 Founders Edition will hit the shelves later in March.’" — Andreas Schilling 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@aschilling) March 4, 2025
There’s a chance we might see another tentative launch scenario similar to what happened with the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti. Reviews of the GeForce RTX 5070 have rolled out from various outlets, and they reveal that the GPU offers performance equivalent to the RTX 4070 Super. While it may not present significant generational leaps, its slightly superior performance compared to the RTX 4070 Super for $549 isn’t a bad deal.
However, if you can’t snag one at its MSRP, it might be wise to hang tight for the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs, which are set to drop on March 6th, with reviews out by March 5th. These have price tags of $599 for the XT and $549 for the non-XT model, making the RX 9070 a solid competitor to the RTX 5070.
As for what’s holding up the GeForce RTX 5070, the specifics remain unclear. There were whispers about a performance-limiting bug and some chip supply snags, but NVIDIA hasn’t officially confirmed any of these rumors.
While the Founders Edition’s launch is postponed, there’s hope that the third-party custom editions might still make their way onto store shelves worldwide. Just yesterday, the GPU popped up on retailer sites like B&H Photo Video, priced at $549 for both the base and OC models. If prices for AIB models creep past the $600 mark, it might be best to steer clear unless you have no other comparable options in your area.
