AMD hasn’t blessed its Radeon RX 9070 Series with an MBA (Made By AMD) reference design, breaking a tradition it had maintained for several generations. However, a recent listing in the China suggests the company may have manufactured at least a few of its own cards before changing course.
The origins of the card are unknown, but we’re likely looking at an abandoned prototype. The seller doesn’t show the card running in their listing, but appears to suggest it works by going so far as to offer a one year warranty. After all, you wouldn’t be able to claim one via AMD.
Curiously, despite the rarity of this model, the seller is selling this particular Radeon RX 9070 XT for the equivalent of $690, falling to $600 with VAT deductions. This is smack-bang on the money for AMD’s MSRP.
Prior to this leak, the closest Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 came to an MBA design were via AMD’s official renders which it continues to use for marketing purposes. This prototype bears a striking similarity to those renders, albeit with an all-silver colour scheme on its front rather than spots of contrast. Even the fan blades are pretty much identical save for their colour.
There are other differences too, such as the placement of the Radeon logo, shifting from the top-left of the card to the centre. It’s more reminiscent of Radeon RX 7900 XTX in this regard but this could be symptomatic of an early design before AMD abandoned plans to manufacture on scale and then made changes to its final artistic render after the fact.
If this card is indeed something AMD was working on before abandoning, we’ll likely never know why it never saw the light of day en masse. In my eyes, cost seems a likely cause. Many sources suggest AMD’s current pricing strategy was in reaction to GeForce RTX 5070 Series, prompting a sharp adjustment and the establishment of a rebate program. It could be that producing reference cards became too costly of an endeavour.
Sadly, the listing has since disappeared. Here’s hoping someone managed to buy the card and we can see it in action in the near-future. Perhaps more instances of this model will show up too, I know I wouldn’t mind having one.
