Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti GPU could have a February 20 launch to beat AMD’s RX 9070 to the shelves – but what about the RTX 5070?

ASUS GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Prime graphics card side-on

(Image credit: Asus)

Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti is supposedly going on sale on February 20
This is purportedly info gleaned directly from Nvidia by a tech site
That date does align with some past rumors, making it seem more likely

Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti could be out on February 20, or that’s the latest talk coming from the rumor mill, taken with the usual pinch of seasoning as ever.

VideoCardz has the scoop on this one, with the tech site informing us that this is word from Nvidia itself, courtesy of the latest info on review embargoes from Team Green.

Obviously this must still be regarded as a rumor, but the theory is that reviews of the RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards that are pitched at MSRP ($749 in the US, or £749 / AU$1,109) will arrive on February 19, and those above the MSRP level will follow the next day, with the GPUs all on shelves on that same day, February 20.

Reinforcing past rumors, and worries around RTX 5070 timing

It’s no surprise to hear that Nvidia is planning to unleash the RTX 5070 Ti later in February, as this is something we’ve caught wind of before. Previously, there was some speculation about a mid-to-late February release, before a retailer actually listed a February 20 launch date, as aired here.

It’s also not surprising that the RTX 5070 Ti could turn up later next month, given the rumors we’ve been hearing about stock shortages – and there’s been a lot of that chat floating around. Such a weight, in fact, that it’s becoming easier and easier to believe that Nvidia will have issues here (and it’s not like this hasn’t happened before).

So, the hope with the RTX 5070 Ti is that, unlike the rumors around the RTX 5080, we’ll actually get a decent amount of graphics cards that are priced at the MSRP (or at least very close to it).

The difference with the RTX 5070 Ti is that, as noted above, there isn’t a Founders Edition in place underlining the MSRP. So, you’d hope Nvidia will be pushing to ensure that its card making partners are going to have a suitable selection of 5070 Ti models at that MSRP, otherwise, well, setting that recommended pricing level starts to look a bit pointless (if everyone’s ignoring it).

Moving from the hope, to the fear with the RTX 5070 Ti, this is that stock is going to sell out lightning-quick, as we get the first semi-affordable – a relative term, of course – Blackwell GPU actually available to buy. In particular, those graphics cards at the MSRP may disappear in the blink of a ray-traced eye, and we may be waiting for some time before stock levels get beefed up a bit (given the inevitable price scalping, too).

The other question is if the RTX 5070 Ti is due on February 20, where does that leave the RTX 5070? To be fair, in theory the vanilla card could be close behind, and as it’s grabbing more interest than the 5070 Ti currently – as gamers are not convinced the 5070 Ti will provide a convincing uplift over the 4070 Ti – that may pull the focus from the Ti model in short order.

This is all guesswork naturally, certainly the talk around the RTX 5070 Ti looking like a less robust next-gen upgrade – that’s mostly based on a few Nvidia performance graphs, the GPU’s specs, and drawing parallels based on how the RTX 5090 panned out relative to its predecessor – and so these are notions we should not get carried away with.

There are also some rumors that the RTX 5070 might be delayed to March 2025, though, and if there’s anything to that particular smouldering fire – with no mention of this GPU from Nvidia yet, apparently – the RTX 5070 Ti might be the only option on the Blackwell mid-range table for a little while. All as AMD looks to get into the game with its RX 9070 models in March, although those GPUs have faced plenty of controversy of their own.

Indeed, I’m not sure I can ever remember a pre-launch period for GPUs that has been so thick with rumors and oddities, than this current run-up to Blackwell and RDNA 4.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).