From tomorrow, you can officially buy the RX 6700 XT. However, a European dealer is already selling a variant of AMD’s new graphics card. The Czech seller demands more than double the price proposed by AMD. What does this mean for the launch?
Here’s the deal: Currently, you can buy the PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Hellhound on the Czech platform Bazos. This is a custom model of AMD’s new graphics card. However, the seller is asking exorbitant prices for this new model (via videocardz.com).
In the shop, it costs 28,000 Czech Koruna. That’s about 1,070 Euros. AMD originally recommended a price of 479 US Dollars at the launch of the RX 6700 XT.
That custom models cost more than reference models is not uncommon. However, the price of the graphics card is a bit more than double, which is surprising and likely to shock those of us hoping for AMD’s new graphics card. This is reminiscent of the similarly exorbitant prices that scalpers are currently asking for RTX graphics cards. We would generally advise against paying such high prices for a graphics card.
The offer from the Czech dealer could be a sign of the launch. So far, it seems that hardly any graphics cards will be available at launch.
Availability of the Radeon RX 6700 XT is likely to be very limited
Our colleagues from GameStar are already concerned that the supply situation for the RX 6700 XT will be as bad as with other new graphics cards. It seems that only a few thousand units of the new RX 6700 XT will be available for the entire European Union. How many of those will end up in Germany is another question.
Why is availability so poor? One major reason is also the shortage of semiconductors. These are needed for electronic devices like consoles or graphics cards. The US trade restrictions and the additional COVID-19 pandemic are causing further material shortages.
When will availability improve? AMD knows that graphics cards are currently hard to come by. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, had stated in a conversation with Venturebeat that they want to increase production, but it will take some time:
As far as semiconductors are concerned, we are building significant capacity to meet this demand. This is an opportunity, and we embrace this opportunity. But it takes time to catch up. (…) We just have to ensure that we forecast the demand well and work closely with our partners to provide this capacity.
We cannot yet tell you when the situation regarding graphics card purchases will improve. However, you can tell us which graphics card you are currently most interested in.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT aims to compete with the RTX 3070
The Radeon RX 6700 XT is a WQHD graphics card that competes against the RTX 3070 in benchmarks. AMD has its own benchmarks showcasing the new mid-range graphics card in 8 top titles against the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070. In 5 out of 8 titles, it performs slightly or significantly better than the RTX 3070.
Raytracing could be an important reason to buy: Currently, Nvidia still has the edge with raytracing and DLSS with the RTX 3000 cards, but with appropriate support and a strong alternative from AMD, that could change. Especially the larger video memory of the RX 6700 XT compared to the RTX 3070 could become important.
AMD is also currently preparing its own DLSS competitor, FidelityFX Super Resolution. The solution is expected to support more than 40 games soon. AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution is also an anti-aliasing solution that is AI-supported. Low resolutions are upscaled and aim to look good at better performance. Some games like Dirt 5, Godfall, and WoW Shadowlands are expected to support FidelityFX already.
