Radeon RX 6800 XT from partner “launched” – a handful of cards to Sweden

Just weeks after the launch of the Radeon RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 in the summer of 2019, rumors began to circulate about “Big Navi”, which would take AMD back to the top of performance. In November, the duo RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 finally came and met expectations, but for those who wanted to take home one, the graphics cards were more or less missing from the store shelves.

Today at 15:00 AMD opens for sales of partner-made models – but in Sweden there will be no launch to speak of. A survey of Swedish retailers shows that the vast majority have not received a single graphics card from partner manufacturers, something several Swedish stores have already chosen to warn about. Only Komplett states that they have received graphics cards and that even then it is about a handful.

The situation does not appear to be isolated to Sweden and the Nordic countries, but also applies to AMD’s important priority home market, the USA. The great Youtube profile JayzTwoCent writes on Twitter that “retailer after retailer” will receive zero partner-made AMD graphics cards at today’s launch.

SweClockers has previously written about foul play with fictitious prices on the launch day and the topic was in the firing line in our latest Friday focus. When we ask the question of prices again, the image is reinforced that it is impossible to meet AMD’s recommended price tags.

One informant says that the margin is at best zero (0) percent or just below. Following AMD’s recommended prices would therefore de facto entail a loss with factors such as logistics and personnel costs included. So far, all indications are that the best case scenario will not be fulfilled in the foreseeable future.

In actual figures, the Radeon RX 6800 from various manufacturers will cost around SEK 8,000 – well above the Swedish recommended price of SEK 6,249. For the Radeon RX 6800 XT, which has a recommended price of SEK 6,999, the situation is even more precarious.

The various Radeon RX 6800 XT models cost upwards of SEK 10,000 and some models may climb higher than that. The entry card from one of the generally more expensive manufacturers lands at SEK 9,999, which in other words indicates that more lavish models from the same player go over the SEK 10,000 mark.

With low supply and high demand, it is natural for prices to rise, but in this case this is not the whole truth. One of AMD’s closest partner manufacturers says that they normally have margins of already low 10–12 percent, but that AMD has pushed margins to “historically low” levels, which contributes to the impossibility of meeting AMD’s recommended prices.

When SweClockers tests graphics cards from partner manufacturers, it is common for us to receive prices that will apply in stores. This time, however, no one wants to go out with any such information, but they refer to asking the dealers.

Real availability takes a while … sometime

An even bigger question mark than the prices is when there should actually be graphics cards to buy without waiting times of weeks or even months. Here, it is in short impossible to get any straight messages, as none of the buyers at Swedish retailers have received any messages from AMD. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that real accessibility is far in the future.

In an official statement, Komplett writes that they have only received a few cards from partner manufacturers, and that the production rate is very low and that waiting times are predicted to be long. Komplett, a reseller that is usually prioritized by AMD, writes that those who want to wait should prepare to wait a long time – until the first half of 2021. That is, sometime during the period January-June.

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