Regardless of whether you have a Radeon or GeForce graphics card, chances are it’s made by a board partner rather than either GPU manufacturer. While MSI has batted for both AMD and Nvidia for several generations of pixel pushers, it appears the company is shifting its priorities to the latter moving forward.
While this decision from MSI isn’t a huge surprise given how AMD has been struggling to eke out market share versus Nvidia, it does leave Radeon down a major board partner and raises questions the health of GPU division. While the RX 7000 series has resulted in some of the best graphics cards of this generation, the popularity of GeForce GPUs appears unwavering and naturally makes them a more appealing option to manufacturers like MSI and others.
For the past year, MSI has distanced itself from Radeon graphics cards, with the last model that the company created coolers for being the Radeon RX 7600, released back in May 2023. Since then, AMD has released four more cards in the RX 7000 series, with the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT putting a spotlight on the relationship between the two companies, as MSI was omitted from the board partner list.
Now, as MSI Radeon graphics card stock dries up and following MSI’s decision to remove its Radeon graphics card portfolio on its own website, the company has finally commented on the situation. Speaking with Hardware Luxx, an MSI representative stated that “when it comes to graphics cards, our focus at the moment is actually more on RTX cards.”
While the words used by MSI don’t amount to a discontinuation of Radeon graphics cards by the company, its actions appear to suggest as such. However, MSI did clarify further into its statement that “collaboration with AMD is essential and extremely relevant for us. We see a very positive development, particularly in the area of mainboards.”
In lieu of the reasons behind MSI’s decision, there are purchasing trends that we can use to unpack the company’s thought process. Looking at the Steam Hardware Survey, the popularity of the Radeon RX 7000 series in no way competes with that of the GeForce RTX 40 series. Hammering this point home, the GeForce RTX 4090 is more popular than any AMD GPU among Steam users, indicating more people are willing to spend $1,600 on an Nvidia GPU than any cheaper options from AMD.
This isn’t for lack of trying. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which is a great graphics card in its own right, has at least managed to garner some measurable share of Steam PCs. However, neither the more value-oriented Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT, or the oft-discounted Radeon RX 7900 XT can even muster 0.16% share.
When it comes to mainboards (motherboards), the appeal of Ryzen processors eclipses that of Radeon graphics cards. Even outside of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD has proven itself capable of going toe-to-toe with competing Intel flagship options and providing long-term support for its CPU sockets. Naturally, this should only increase as the company readies itself for a launch of next-gen Zen 5 chips that will be compatible with current-gen AM5 motherboards.
Whether MSI has a change of heart closer to the arrival of RDNA 4 is anyone’s guess, but it seems unlikely. The more important question, though, is whether other cross-manufacturer board partners like Asus or Gigabyte are feeling similarly, let alone AMD-exclusive entities like Sapphire or PowerColor. That’s not forgetting that upcoming GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards could prove all the more enticing.
By no means would this mean the end for Radeon graphics, though, as AMD remains practically unchallenged when it comes to handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. More reassuring still, are rumors of integrated GPUs that replace dedicated graphics cards.
For more of our thoughts on the current graphics card options, check out our GeForce RTX 4070 Super review, if you’re in the market for a new mid-range card.