Tomorrow marks the official unveiling of the new GPU, but those eyeing the Founders Edition will have to wait a little longer until late March to get their hands on it.
NVIDIA Pushes Back the RTX 5070 FE Launch to Later This Month
In a surprising turn of events, NVIDIA has postponed the release of its GeForce RTX 5070 FE GPU. This delay wasn’t announced through any official channels; instead, it was noted by Andreas Schilling, who shared that NVIDIA contacted him via email to deliver the news. The reviews embargo for the RTX 5070 lifted just a few hours back, and originally, the retail launch was set for tomorrow.
Notably, Schilling from Hardware Luxx mentioned receiving the update from NVIDIA mere hours before the review embargo ended. So, if you were planning to snag the GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition, you’ll likely face some disappointment as they won’t be hitting the shelves just yet. It remains uncertain if this delay applies to the AIB editions too, but given the buzzing rumors around the GPU’s availability, it’s not looking too promising.
Andreas Schilling – "Expecting to grab a GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition tomorrow? Think again… NVIDIA informed us 2 1/2 hours before the review drop: ‘The RTX 5070 Founders Edition will be available later in March.’"
It’s quite possible we’re looking at yet another paper launch scenario, similar to what we saw with the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti. Coverage from various tech sites has already provided us with reviews of the GeForce RTX 5070, showing it matches up to the RTX 4070 Super in terms of performance. Although there might not be any groundbreaking improvements over previous generations, it’s still a decent contender given the price point of $549—at least as far as MSRP is concerned.
If you’re struggling to find it at MSRP, it might be wise to hold off until AMD releases the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, which are due out on March 6th. Reviews for those will surface on the 5th. Priced at $599 and $549 respectively, these GPUs are set to compete directly with the RTX 5070.
As for the hold-up with the GeForce RTX 5070, the reasons remain murky. Whispers have floated about a performance-hindering bug and possibly some supply chain hiccups, yet NVIDIA hasn’t officially confirmed these issues.
While enthusiasts will have to wait a few weeks for the Founders Edition, it’s hopeful that the AIB custom versions will still roll out globally. Just yesterday, retailers like B&H Photo Video listed the GPU at $549 for both its base and OC variants. If the AIB versions start to stretch above $600, it might be wiser to steer clear, unless there are no other similarly powered alternatives available locally.
