- A Redditor has received a third-party RTX 5070 Ti before its launch on February 20
- This comes before its February 19 review embargo
- Recent reports suggest that the new GPU will suffer from similar stock issues seen with the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080
Nvidia's RTX 5000 GPU series launch has been a tangled affair, due to numerous issues like limited retailer supply and scalping. Now, if it wasn't bad enough for Team Green already, the RTX 5070 Ti is only two days away from its launch - but one of its third-party models is unfortunately already out in the wild.
Spotted by VideoCardz, a Redditor claims they have already received the Asus RTX 5070 Ti Prime OC GPU, before both the review embargo and launch, which are set for February 19 and February 20 respectively. Leaks and speculation circulating around the new Blackwell GPUs aren't exactly anything extraordinary, but a card actually landing with a buyer days before launch is a pretty wild turn of events.
While it may not prove to be heavily detrimental to the RTX 5070 Ti's launch, it does further underline exactly how messy Team Green's latest GPU launch has been - more reports highlighted by VideoCardz suggest the upcoming GPU could also face the same supply issues seen with the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, potentially leaving scalpers salivating once again.
The Redditor also mentioned paying more than the retail price, which doesn't come as a surprise - multiple online retailers currently feature inflated prices for third-party RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 cards, so even though the recipient likely paid extra (with the unexpected benefit of getting the RTX 5070 Ti early), there's a high chance the same price inflation will occur for the 5070 family.
It's probably best to stick with your RTX 4000 series GPU for now
Acknowledging the ongoing issues with RTX 5000 availability, the easiest solution is to stick with your RTX 4000 series GPU if you have one. If you're lucky enough, you may even find third-party models of AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX (which is only slightly weaker than the RTX 5080) at discounted prices, or you could just wait for Team Red's new Radeon RX 9000 series lineup (assuming those don't get the scalper treatment too).
The only disadvantage you may have with Team Red's RX 7000 series flagship GPU, is potentially no access to FSR 4 - I say this with heavy emphasis on 'potentially', as the upscaling method might not end up being exclusive to the RX 9000 series forever.
While I'm not downplaying the effectiveness of DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation on the new Blackwell GPUs, it's just not worth the hassle to overpay to pre-order any of the cards at this point. There will more than likely be restocking in order for RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs at some point (and likely the same once the 5070 family sells out), but who knows how long that will take.
Right now, if you own an RX 7900 XTX or the likes of an RTX 4080 Super, rest assured, you're not missing out...
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