With the Nvidia RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 launching next week, many potential buyers have been eyeing up the more budget-oriented (okay, they're still going to be quite expensive) cards from the 50 series and we could potentially get them as soon as February 20. However, as always before the launch of a major card, it's worth taking that information with a grain (or teaspoon) of salt.
As reported by Videocardz, retailer Proshop recently listed an RTX 5070 Ti, and at the very top of the page, it says the card is launching on February 20, at 3 PM. I checked out this page and, as of the time of writing, it still says it will be launching that day. The date and time seem fairly specific but there are a few reasons why this could be the case.
The first is that this is simply a placeholder date given in the system, that might not have been intended to actually go live on the website. When I first saw this information, that was my instinct. I'm prepared for most dates before big gaming moments to be some sort of admin error that is being blown out of proportion. However, this one is a slight bit different.
The page in question has that specific date and time but so too does every RTX 5070 Ti I could find on Proshop from any brand. There are currently two pages of search results for RTX 5070 Ti on the storefront and every single one of them has the same date and time. This is certainly peculiar, especially when you consider no such date has been given for the 5070, which just says it will launch at some point in March.
Proshop is a reputable Danish retailer but there is a potential other cause for every single 5070 Ti having the same date. We don't know the details of the backend of the site but something like this could have a broader website category and the page furniture, like 'hot' and 'new', and the release date at the top could be automatically added to products of a certain category. The fact that all 5070s have the same basic release date formatting could back this up too.
Essentially, what I'm saying is don't book that day off to stand in line for your shiny new graphics card (especially when you consider some manufacturers are getting a 'single digit' amount of cards). However, I think there's more reason to pay attention to this specific release date than most pre-launch rumours.
And yes, the RTX 4070/Ti cards launched significantly longer than a month after the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090, but the 50-series doesn't seem to be following the previous generation's release cadence this time around, so who knows? All I'm saying is, if you're on the hunt for a new RTX 5070 Ti, it's not impossible that you could have one by this time next month.
Proshop just so happens to have 28 different 5070 Ti cards available, if you live in Europe. I'd know as I counted them all, each and every one.
