Just as the excitement was building for the official GPU launch tomorrow, there’s been a twist in the tale regarding the Founders Edition. It won’t hit the shelves until the end of March.
Turns out, NVIDIA’s pushed back the launch date for the GeForce RTX 5070 FE GPU. Although this isn’t straight from the horse’s mouth, Andreas Schilling has reported that NVIDIA personally reached out to him about the delay. The embargo on reviews lifted just a while ago, and tomorrow was meant to be the big day for its retail debut.
The editor at Hardware Luxx, Schilling, shared that NVIDIA gave him the heads-up about this change mere hours before the review embargo was lifted. This means for those planning to snag the Founders Edition tomorrow, there will be disappointment. It’s unclear if this will impact the availability of AIB (Add-in-Board) versions, but considering the buzz about limited availability, it’s likely to be scarce.
Are you hoping to buy a GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition tomorrow? Think again—NVIDIA informed us just 2 1/2 hours prior to the review drop:
“The RTX 5070 Founders Edition will be available later in March.” pic.twitter.com/8BntkzNc7T
— Andreas Schilling 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@aschilling) March 4, 2025
It wouldn’t be surprising if this turns into another ‘paper launch,’ much like what we’ve seen with the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti. Most reviews highlight that the RTX 5070 offers performance on par with the RTX 4070 Super, albeit with no groundbreaking improvements. Still, considering its slight edge over the RTX 4070 Super at a price of $549, it’s a decent buy for its value.
However, if you’re struggling to find one at the MSRP, it may be wise to hold off and look towards the Radeon alternatives. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 are launching right around the corner on March 6th, with reviews coming out a day earlier. Priced at $599 for the XT and $549 for the non-XT, these Radeon models are positioned as direct competitors to the RTX 5070.
As for why the GeForce RTX 5070 is seeing these delays, the reasons remain a mystery. There were whispers about a persistent bug impacting performance and some supply chain hurdles with the chips, but NVIDIA has yet to confirm anything.
While the Founders Edition is facing delays, there’s still hope for AIB custom models to reach markets worldwide. Just yesterday, listings appeared on sites like B&H Photo Video, pricing the base and OC models at $549. If AIB versions end up priced over $600, it might be wise to steer clear unless you’re stuck without other viable options in your area.
