NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 FE Retail Launch Allegedly Pushed to Late March

The official launch for the new GPU is set for tomorrow, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer before getting your hands on the Founders Edition, which is now expected to hit the shelves towards the end of March.

NVIDIA is postponing the retail debut of the GeForce RTX 5070 FE GPU, a surprising twist that hasn’t been publicly announced by the company. Instead, the news came via Andreas Schilling, who received an email update from NVIDIA about the delay. Just hours ago, the embargo on reviews for the RTX 5070 was lifted, and today was supposed to be the big day for its retail rollout.

The update from NVIDIA reached the editor at Hardware Luxx mere hours before the reviews embargo lifted, meaning anyone planning to snag the GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition might be out of luck for now. It’s unclear whether this delay will extend to the AIB versions of the GPU, but recent reports on its availability don’t paint an optimistic picture.

In a timely tweet, Andreas Schilling remarked, “Think you’ll grab a GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition tomorrow? Think again. NVIDIA informed us just a couple of hours before the reviews went live that the FE will only be available later this month.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if this launch ends up being as elusive as the ones for the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti. Reviews are already in for the RTX 5070, and they peg its performance on par with an RTX 4070 Super. It might not offer groundbreaking leaps over its predecessor, but with a price point of $549, it remains competitively priced.

However, if you’re unable to find one at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, it might be wise to hold off until the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 make their debut. Scheduled for launch on March 6 with reviews dropping the day before, these GPUs are priced at $599 for the XT version and $549 for the non-XT, positioning the RX 9070 as a direct contender to the RTX 5070.

The RTX 5070’s delay seems to be shrouded in a veil of mystery. There were whispers about bugs hampering its performance and some supply chain hitches, but nothing has been confirmed by NVIDIA officially.

Although the release of the Founders Edition has hit a snag, there’s hope that the AIB custom models might still find their way to various global markets. Yesterday, listings began appearing on retailers like B&H Photo Video, with an MSRP of $549 for both the base and OC versions. If the price tag creeps past $600 for the AIB models, it might be smart to steer clear unless you’re desperately out of options for similarly powerful GPUs in your area.