RTX 5070 vs RTX 5070 Ti for Local AI

1. 30-second verdict

Both cards are Blackwell-generation NVIDIA discrete GPUs with GDDR7 and PCIe 5.0 x16 — the family is the same, the size class is not. The RTX 5070 (GB205) carries 12 GB on a 192-bit bus at 672 GB/s, 6,144 CUDA cores, 250 W TDP, launch MSRP $549. The RTX 5070 Ti (GB203) carries 16 GB on a 256-bit bus at 896 GB/s, 8,960 CUDA cores, 300 W TDP, launch MSRP $749 (NVIDIA manufacturer specs). On hardware-corner.net llama.cpp Qwen3-8B Q4_K_XL (16K, batch 1, 2025-12-09) the 5070 Ti recorded 87.54 tok/s vs 59.13 tok/s — about 48% faster — for $200 more at launch MSRP. The honest value split: if your largest model fits in 12 GB at Q4, the 5070 keeps the same platform at $200 less; if you need 16 GB for 14B-class models (Phi-4, Qwen3 14B list calculated min 16 GB+), the 5070 Ti is the entry ticket. Street price is not yet measured on either card; no product_offers rows exist.

2. Memory architecture

Both cards are discrete VRAM, not unified memory. The RTX 5070 has 12 GB GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus at 672 GB/s; the RTX 5070 Ti has 16 GB GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus at 896 GB/s — a 33.3% bandwidth advantage for the Ti (calculated from recorded values: 896 / 672). That is a real capacity and bandwidth gap, not a same-capacity speed bump. ECC is not recorded on either gpus row. Neither card records NVLink support (nvlink_support is NULL on both, not 0). Two RTX 5070s stay 2×12 GB and two 5070 Tis stay 2×16 GB unless a runtime shards; dual-card tok/s is not yet measured here.

3. Model-fit table

Fit labels use ai_models calculated min/recommended configs plus discrete VRAM from the product records. They are capacity checks, not speed claims.

The 4 GB gap puts the two cards on opposite sides of the 14B-class fit line. Phi-4 and Qwen3 14B list a calculated minimum of 16 GB+ at Q4_K_M — the 5070 does not meet it, the 5070 Ti does. For 8B-class models both cards fit comfortably; for 24B+ models neither card helps.

4. Direct benchmark table

Only non-quarantined benchmarks rows. Same-lab pairs first. A blank cell means no sourced row for that card — not zero. Estimate means is_estimate=1. Do not treat one-sided rows as a pair.

The Qwen3-8B row is the only sourced benchmark row on either card — it is single-workload evidence, not a full performance profile. No image-generation row, no fine-tune row, no larger-model row exists for either GPU. Every other speed claim on this page is a spec delta (bandwidth, cores, bus width), not a measurement. Image-generation and 14B-class inference speed are not yet measured here.

5. Runtime compatibility

Both are NVIDIA CUDA discrete GPUs on the same Blackwell generation. The only sourced stack in our rows is llama.cpp CUDA 12.8. ROCm and MLX do not apply. Both record PCIe 5.0 x16, so host-transfer bandwidth for CPU offload is generation-identical — the 5070 Ti's advantage is on-card memory, not the slot. Fine-tune / multi-adapter / vLLM-style stacks beyond the llama.cpp row are not yet measured on this pair.

6. Quantization compatibility

The sourced same-lab generation row uses Q4_K_XL on Qwen3-8B for both cards — identical quant, identical config, so the 87.54 vs 59.13 tok/s comparison is quant-matched. Q5/Q6/Q8 decode on this pair is not yet measured. The capacity gap interacts with quant choice: a 14B model at Q4_K_M needs 16 GB+ (calculated), so on the 5070 you would need a more aggressive quant or CPU offload to load it at all, while the 5070 Ti loads it at Q4. That is a fit difference, not a speed claim.

7. Max practical context examples

The same-lab llama.cpp pair uses 16K context (Qwen3-8B). Qwen 3 8B native context in our model record is 40,960 tokens; Llama 3.1 8B native context is 131,072 tokens. Whether either GPU holds the full native window at a given quant is not yet measured here. The 5070 Ti's extra 4 GB gives more context headroom at the same quant; the 5070 trades headroom for a $200 lower launch MSRP. No sourced long-context row exists to quantify the decode-speed difference at 32K+.

8. Power

Specifications record 250 W TDP (5070) and 300 W TDP (5070 Ti). The 50 W difference is rated board power, not an inference-consumption measurement. Both are single-card, desktop-class power envelopes; plan PSU headroom above TDP and check partner board power input requirements. Energy cost per million tokens is not yet measured (no watt-hour rows).

9. Current price

Price class is launch_msrp only. Products table: RTX 5070 $549, RTX 5070 Ti $749, price_checked_at 2026-09-02. street_price_usd is NULL on both. No product_offers rows exist for either SKU. Check live listings rather than treating MSRP as street:

• RTX 5070 current listing (affiliate)
• RTX 5070 Ti current listing (affiliate)
• RTX 5070 product page · RTX 5070 Ti product page

10. Used price

Not yet measured. No used-condition offer rows exist for either SKU. Both launched in 2025, so the used pool is still young. This page will not invent a median. If a discounted used 5070 appears and 12 GB covers your models, the value case over the 5070 Ti strengthens; if a used 5070 Ti nears $549, the 16 GB card becomes the obvious pick.

11. Performance per current dollar

Calculated from the sourced same-lab pair and launch MSRP (both labeled): 59.13 tok/s ÷ $549 = 0.108 tok/s per launch-MSRP dollar (5070) versus 87.54 tok/s ÷ $749 = 0.117 tok/s per launch-MSRP dollar (5070 Ti) — roughly 1.09× the tok/s per dollar at launch pricing. The Ti is slightly more tok/s-efficient per launch dollar, but the 5070 buys a working 8B-class platform for $200 less. This is a calculated ratio from sourced values, not a stored ranking, and launch MSRP is not street price. No street or offer rows exist to recompute it at current prices.

12. Multi-GPU considerations

Neither card records NVLink support in the gpus table (nvlink_support is NULL on both). Desktop GeForce cards in this class have no NVLink bridge. Two 5070s are 2×12 GB and two 5070 Tis are 2×16 GB, not one pooled pool, unless the runtime shards (tensor parallel / pipeline / expert offload). Dual-card tok/s for this pair is not yet measured. Related: multi-GPU guide, workstations.

13. System requirements

Both: PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, single desktop-class board. 5070: 250 W TDP. 5070 Ti: 300 W TDP (manufacturer spec / vendor spec page). Both are backwards-compatible with PCIe 4.0 motherboards (running at 4.0 speeds). Both fit a standard desktop case and a PSU with headroom above TDP; the 5070 Ti's 300 W rating wants more PSU margin and typically a pair of power inputs on partner boards. CPU/RAM pairing for these two SKUs is not yet measured on this page.

14. Who should buy the RTX 5070

• Anyone whose largest model fits in 12 GB at Q4 — Llama 3.1 8B and Qwen 3 8B both list 12 GB as the recommended class, and the 5070 meets it exactly.
• Buyers who want the Blackwell platform (GDDR7, PCIe 5.0 x16) at the lowest entry price in the 50-series stack — $549 launch MSRP is $200 below the Ti.
• Not a pick for 14B-class models: Phi-4 (14.66B) and Qwen3 14B (14.77B) list a calculated minimum of 16 GB+ at Q4_K_M, so the 5070 does not meet the fit line without heavier quantization or CPU offload.

15. Who should buy the RTX 5070 Ti

• Anyone running 14B-class models (Phi-4, Qwen3 14B) at Q4_K_M — the 16 GB card meets the calculated minimum; the 12 GB card does not.
• FLUX.1 dev users who want the recommended 16 GB FP8 class rather than the 12 GB NF4/Q4 minimum.
• Buyers who value the sourced ~48% faster 8B decode (87.54 vs 59.13 tok/s same-lab) and 33% more memory bandwidth (896 vs 672 GB/s) at $200 more launch MSRP.
• Not a pick for 24B+ models — Mistral Small 3.2 24B (min 20 GB) and Gemma 3 27B (min 24 GB) exceed both cards; look at 24 GB+ cards instead.

16. Evidence / source table

17. Data freshness date

22 September 2026. Product specs last verified in gpus.last_verified_at / products.price_checked_at on 2026-09-02. Same-lab bench date: 2025-12-09 (Qwen3-8B pair). No product_offers rows exist. This page does not invent newer street prices or unsourced tok/s.

Frequently asked questions

Is the RTX 5070 Ti better than the RTX 5070 for AI?

On the only same-lab sourced pair in our database — Qwen3-8B Q4_K_XL llama.cpp, 16K context, batch 1 (hardware-corner.net, 2025-12-09) — the RTX 5070 Ti recorded 87.54 tok/s versus 59.13 tok/s on the RTX 5070, roughly 48% faster. The 5070 Ti also has 4 GB more VRAM (16 GB vs 12 GB GDDR7), a wider bus (256-bit vs 192-bit), higher bandwidth (896 vs 672 GB/s), and more CUDA cores (8,960 vs 6,144). It costs $200 more at launch MSRP ($749 vs $549). This page does not invent a single winner score; the verdict rests on that pair plus the spec delta.

Should I upgrade from RTX 5070 to RTX 5070 Ti?

The upgrade buys 4 GB more VRAM and a wider memory bus — the difference between "does not meet calculated min" and "fits" for 14B-class models like Phi-4 (14.66B) and Qwen3 14B (14.77B), which list a calculated minimum of 16 GB+ at Q4_K_M. If your largest model fits in 12 GB at Q4, the 5070 is the better value: it delivers the same architecture (Blackwell, PCIe 5.0 x16, GDDR7) at $200 less launch MSRP. If you need 16 GB for 14B-class models or FLUX.1 dev at FP8, the 5070 Ti is the correct pick.

Which GPU is faster for local LLM inference?

On the same-lab llama.cpp Qwen3-8B Q4_K_XL pair (hardware-corner.net, 16K context, batch 1, 2025-12-09), the RTX 5070 Ti recorded 87.54 tok/s versus 59.13 tok/s on the RTX 5070. That is the only sourced benchmark row on either card — no other workload, quantization, or model has been measured. Larger-model speeds beyond that row are not yet measured.

What do these cards cost?

Launch MSRP in the products table is $549 (RTX 5070) and $749 (RTX 5070 Ti), last price-checked 2026-09-02. Street price is NULL on both. No product_offers rows exist for either SKU. Used prices are not yet measured. Check live listings rather than treating MSRP as street.

Does the RTX 5070 Ti have more VRAM than the RTX 5070?

Yes. The RTX 5070 Ti has 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus at 896 GB/s; the RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus at 672 GB/s (manufacturer spec / vendor spec page, confidence 0.95). Both are Blackwell-generation discrete GPUs with GDDR7 and PCIe 5.0 x16. The 4 GB gap matters for 14B-class models that list a calculated minimum of 16 GB+ at Q4_K_M.

Which GPU uses more power?

The RTX 5070 Ti. Specifications record 300 W TDP for the RTX 5070 Ti and 250 W TDP for the RTX 5070 (manufacturer datasheet / vendor spec page). The difference is 50 W of rated board power, not a measurement of inference consumption.

Related: best GPU for local LLMs, best GPU for Stable Diffusion, RTX 5060 Ti 16GB vs RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5070 Ti vs 4080 Super, best GPU under $500, RTX 5070 product page, RTX 5070 Ti product page, GPU index, Can it run?, GPU comparison tool, DLSS 5 GPU support matrix, RX 9070 GRE vs RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti vs RTX 5080.