NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
No editorial image yet — generic vendor mark shown. Credentials in spec table below.
Pascal high-tier with 8 GB VRAM. Comfortable for 7B Q4 models at ~25-35 tok/s. Bandwidth-limited like the rest of Pascal but the 8 GB headroom matters — fits 7B with reasonable context. Used market $130-160 makes it a competitive entry tier in 2026.
Affiliate disclosure: as an Amazon Associate and partner of other retailers, we earn from qualifying purchases. The verdict on this page is our editorial opinion; affiliate links never influence what we recommend.
Sub-scores sum to 385 / 1000. Headline = 385 × 0.70 (Estimated-confidence discount) = 270. This is an algorithmic performance-tier score — distinct from, and often lower than, the editorial “Our verdict” below, which weighs value and real-world fit (especially for hardware we haven’t measured yet). How scoring works →
Extrapolated from 256 GB/s bandwidth — 30.7 tok/s estimated. No measured benchmarks yet.
Plain-English: Comfortable for 7B chat.
Verdicts extrapolated from catalog VRAM + bandwidth + ecosystem flags. Hover any chip for the rationale. Want measured numbers? Submit your own run with runlocalai-bench --submit.
The GTX 1070 is for the operator building a first local AI rig on a tight budget, who needs to run 7B models with moderate context and doesn't mind older hardware. It runs 7B Q4 models at 25-35 tok/s, fitting a 7B with 2-4K context comfortably. 13B Q4 models (~8 GB weights) barely fit at zero context but leave no room for KV cache, making them impractical. What breaks: 13B models are out of reach for any real use, and the 256 GB/s bandwidth limits 7B throughput compared to newer cards. Software support is solid on CUDA, but no tensor cores means no acceleration for larger quantizations. When to pass: if the workload requires 13B models or above, or if the budget can stretch to a used RTX 3060 12GB for $180-200, which offers more VRAM and better bandwidth. Price/value note: at $130-160 used, it's the cheapest entry point for 7B local inference, but only if the operator accepts the VRAM ceiling.
›Why this rating
The GTX 1070 earns a 6.5 for its low cost and adequate 7B performance, but the 8 GB VRAM and limited bandwidth cap its usefulness for larger models. It's a solid entry-level card but not a long-term investment for growing workloads.
Overview
Pascal high-tier with 8 GB VRAM. Comfortable for 7B Q4 models at ~25-35 tok/s. Bandwidth-limited like the rest of Pascal but the 8 GB headroom matters — fits 7B with reasonable context. Used market $130-160 makes it a competitive entry tier in 2026.
Some links above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. How we make money.
Specs
| VRAM | 8 GB |
| Power draw (peak) | 150 W |
| Released | 2016 |
| MSRP | $379 |
| Backends | CUDA Vulkan |
Models that fit
Open-weight models small enough to run on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 with usable context.
Frequently asked
What models can NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 run?
Does NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 support CUDA?
How much does NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 cost?
Where next?
Reviewed by RunLocalAI Editorial. See our editorial policy for how we research and verify hardware specifications.