Some thought that AMDs upcoming best graphics cards would be launching in a matter of days, but we now know thats not going to happen. According to David McAfee, vice president and general manager of AMDs Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics division, the GPUs are doing great and will be widely available but not until March.This delay is an interesting choice, given that some retailers were ready to open preorders on January 22. Multiple listings of the card from all over the world have been leaked at this point, and although we havent seen almost any of its specifications, those listings implied that the cards were ready to go, or at least would soon be available.Recommended VideosRadeon 9000 series hardware and software are looking great and we are planning to have a wide assortment of cards available globally. Cant wait for gamers to get their hands on the cards when they go on sale in March! David McAfee (@McAfeeDavid_AMD) January 20, 2025Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming The manner of the announcement was pretty odd, too. After the cards were a complete no-show at CES 2025, AMD implied that the GPUs deserved their own event outside of the 45-minute keynote that also omitted its next-gen Z2 chips. Now, McAfee took to X (Twitter) to quietly reveal that AMDs plans arent so set in stone, and it all comes down to an ambiguous release date sometimes in March.At this point, with Nvidias full RTX 50-series range right around the corner, many AMD enthusiasts expected more. The reaction to McAfees announcement in Twitter replies was lukewarm at best, with many fans wondering where this delay is coming from. AMD and Nvidia are locked in a perpetual battle in the GPU market, and its hard not to give Nvidia the upper hand here, as we know the release date of the first two GPUs, but also the entire spec sheet for all four. Meanwhile, all we know about the RX 9000 series is that itll have 16GB VRAM, but even that comes from leaks.AMD didnt show off the cards during the event, but its partners had them on display during CES 2025, so we know the hardware seems ready to go. AMDs Frank Azor also told the press that the cards were set to launch in a matter of weeks, which still checks out even if its at the end of March, but just barely. Nvidias RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti should both be out by then, with a tentative February release date.Its possible that one of my least favorite leaks may have turned out to be true. A Chiphell forum leaker recently shared that AMD pulled back on the late January release date for the RX 9000 series, citing waiting for Nvidia as one of the reasons. Its hard to say what AMD might be waiting for at this point, but one way or another, we now know for a fact that the RX 9000 series wont be here until March.Editors Recommendations