GTX 10ConsumerPascalPCIe 3CUDA
Operating mode
Choose the operating mode for this hardware
Use this to bias workload recommendations toward responsiveness, background autonomy, lighter serving, or multi-GPU scale-out.
Current mode
Balanced
Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.
About this GPU for AI
The GTX 1070 8GB is a Pascal card with compute capability 6.1 and no Tensor Cores. Its 8 GB VRAM is enough for 7B models at Q4 via llama.cpp or Ollama, but all inference runs on CUDA cores without any accelerated INT8 path. Token generation is slow compared to any RTX-era GPU. Like all Pascal cards, it faces imminent CUDA deprecation with toolkit version 13.x. Useful as a free GPU you already own, but not worth purchasing for AI purposes.
Beyond LLMs
AI Capability Matrix
What AI tasks this GPU can handle β from text generation to image and video creation.
| Capability | Status | Representative Model | Detail |
|---|
| LLM Chat (7B) | Runs natively | Llama 3.1 8B Q4 | β |
| LLM Coding (30B) | Wonβt fit | Qwen 3 30B Q4 | β |
| LLM Large (70B) |
legacy-but-capablelimited-vramcuda-deprecation-riskbudget-used-market
Specifications
Compute
FP1612 TFLOPS
INT846 TOPS
ArchitecturePascal
Memory
VRAM8 GB
Bandwidth256 GB/s
General
FamilyGTX 10
SegmentConsumer
InterconnectPCIe 3
Compute PlatformCUDA
MSRP$379
Key Features
CUDA Compute Capability 6.1 (Pascal) β no Tensor Cores256 GB/s memory bandwidth (GDDR5)8 GB GDDR5 VRAMPCIe Gen 3 x16CUDA deprecation incoming with 13.xNo INT8 or FP16 Tensor Core acceleration
For AI Workloads
Strengths
- 8 GB VRAM runs 7B models at Q4 without CPU offloading
- Still functional with llama.cpp and Ollama today
- Very cheap used β one of the lowest-cost 8 GB options available
- Adequate for occasional light inference tasks
Considerations
- No Tensor Cores β inference is much slower than any RTX-era GPU at equivalent VRAM
- Pascal loses CUDA toolkit support post-12.x β forward compatibility at risk
- 256 GB/s bandwidth is low β slow token generation even for models that fit
- Modern inference frameworks (vLLM, TGI) already don't support compute 6.1
Pascal is NVIDIA's first 16nm FinFET GPU architecture, powering the GTX 10-series consumer cards and Tesla P100/P40 datacenter accelerators. It introduced unified memory architecture and NVLink interconnect for datacenter GPUs.
AI Relevance
No dedicated Tensor Cores β all AI inference runs on standard CUDA cores at FP16 or FP32 precision. Still usable for small models (7B Q4) on cards with sufficient VRAM like the GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB) or P40 (24 GB), but significantly slower than Turing and newer.
Process: TSMC 16nmPlatform: CUDAPrecisions: FP32, FP16
Recommendations by Workload
Qwen 3.5 4B matches Chat and keeps a practical fit profile. It is a recent-generation family, which helps on current local SOTA workloads. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Context coverage stays within the requested workload envelope. Known distribution channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.
Decode 52.0 tok/s Β· 22K ctx Β· llama.cppEST.
Codestral Mamba 7B is a specialized fit for Coding. It sits in the middle of the current generation mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Context coverage stays within the requested workload envelope. Known distribution channels: huggingface, ollama.
Decode 40.7 tok/s Β· 67K ctx Β· llama.cppEST.
Just out of reach
Models you could run with an upgrade
High-quality models that need a bit more memory
30.5BTier 100Needs ~21.0 GB
397BTier 100Needs ~245.3 GB
123BTier 100Needs ~79.4 GB
1000BTier 100Needs ~615.4 GB
1000BTier 100Needs ~615.4 GB
Image & Video Generation
Diffusion Model Compatibility
21 of 52 models can generate images or video on your GTX 1070 8GB
Upgrade paths
Upgrade from GTX 1070 8GB
See what you unlock with more powerful hardware
Upgrade options
Upgrade options
Frequently Asked Questions
8
GB
GTX 1070 8GBCategory AvgRTX 3080 10GB
| Image Gen (SDXL) | Runs with sequential offload | SDXL 1.0 FP16 | ~~1m 33s per image |
| Image Gen (Flux) | Won't fit | Flux.1 Dev FP16 | ~~2m 38s per image |
| Image Gen (SD 3.5) | Won't fit | SD 3.5 Large FP16 | ~~3m 14s per image |
| Video Short (25f) | Won't fit | LTX Video 2B | ~~30.6s/frame |
| Video Long (100f) | Won't fit | Wan Video 14B | ~~1m 30s/frame |
Gemma 4 E2B is a specialized fit for Agentic Coding. It is a recent-generation family, which helps on current local SOTA workloads. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Context coverage stays within the requested workload envelope. Known distribution channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.
Decode 40.0 tok/s Β· 96K ctx Β· llama.cppEST.
Codestral Mamba 7B is viable for Reasoning, but is not the most specialized choice. It sits in the middle of the current generation mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Context coverage stays within the requested workload envelope. Known distribution channels: huggingface, ollama.
Decode 40.7 tok/s Β· 67K ctx Β· llama.cppEST.
Granite 4.1 3B matches RAG and keeps a practical fit profile. It sits in the middle of the current generation mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Context coverage stays within the requested workload envelope. Known distribution channels: huggingface, ollama.
Decode 42.0 tok/s Β· 59K ctx Β· llama.cppEST.
Image
| MAGI-1Video | 256Γ256 | ~1m 23s/frame | F |
Image models estimated at 1024Γ1024 (28 steps, FP16). Video models estimated at 768Γ512 (25 frames, 30 steps, FP16). Actual performance varies with runtime and system load.
There are 4 upgrade path(s) from GTX 1070 8GB: RTX 3080 10GB, RTX 2080 Ti 11GB. Upgrading would unlock larger models and faster inference speeds.
Buying advice
Should you buy GTX 1070 8GB for local AI?
Usable for local AI with limits
Can run 7 of 50 top models, mostly smaller ones. Larger models need heavy quantization or won't fit.
What will limit you first
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.
Older PCIe generation
PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.
Best upgrade itinerary
Unlocks 33 additional models that do not fit on the current setup.
Want more headroom? RTX 3080 10GB (10.0 GB VRAM) is the next step up.