AMD’s Frank Azor says no 32 GB RX 9070 XT for you, probably because a 32 GB mid-range GPU didn’t make much sense in the first place

Sometimes, in this topsy-turvy PC hardware world of ours, a rumour turns up that really makes us scratch our heads. This week, it was rumblings about a 32 GB variant of AMD’s upcoming RDNA 4 graphics card, the RX 9070 XT. You can rest easy in your beds tonight, though, because AMD’s Frank Azor has categorically denied its existence. For now, at least.

Alright, let me qualify that. It’s certainly possible that AMD has a 32 GB test card rattling around in its labs, because hey, everything gets a little crazy on a Friday and the team thought it might be fun. But as for one turning up on sale in March? Nuh-uh.

That’s it. That’s the tweet. It’s no surprise that AMD isn’t planning on cramming the RX 9070 XT with an excessive amount of VRAM, because it’s been very open for some time about its humble aims to bring mid-range cards to the market this generation, not high end.

32 GB of VRAM would only really make sense for AI and high-level rendering purposes, not a stated goal of this generation of AMD GPUs. And while we’ve certainly seen controversy regarding a perceived lack of VRAM in cards like the RTX 4060 Ti in the past, 32 GB would be over-egging the pudding significantly for a mid-range GPU.

Plus, it’s fairly expensive. VRAM, that is. Stuffing a card full of it while trying to keep the price competitive with Nvidia’s offer of the RTX 5070 for $549 makes about as much sense as, ooh, I don’t know, offering one with a gold-plated cooling shroud for bragging rights.

Although, anything’s possible. Just wanted to add that qualifier, in case AMD announces the RX 9070 XT Gold Standard edition in a week. And hey, companies do be doing crazy things sometimes. One for the future maybe? Perhaps. Just not now.

This batch of cards will need to be high-performing (for their product category) and relatively cheap to sell well, and that’s something that AMD appears to be keenly aware of.

At least, we’re sort of hoping so at this point. Given the claimed advantages of DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation (we’ve yet to test it on a mid-range card, although we’ve been diving in to the figures for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090), the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 look like they’ll have an uphill battle on their hands this generation to grab some market share.

And 32 GB of VRAM, for no real reason other than a marketing-friendly number on the box? That really doesn’t seem like the play. Anyway, here’s the word, straight from the horse’s mouth. You can all go back to your bunks.