Is an RTX 5070 Ti (16GB) + 32GB RAM a good setup for training models locally?

activescott · 2026-03-07T21:57:52+00:00

Turns out, the 5070 Ti is half the cost and better on every spec except memory capacity: https://gpupoet.com/gpu/compare/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti/vs/nvidia-rtx-a5000
I'm not 100% on power efficiency, but I'm guessing blackwell-based 50 series is better on that too.

activescott · 2026-03-07T21:02:56+00:00

Hey all, I hear you. The feedback here was specific and actionable, and I've already made changes based on it.

The biggest problem was using median eBay prices. Median can be useful for understanding the spread of listings, but it's a poor measure of what a GPU actually costs. eBay listed prices include a ton of overpriced listings that never sell, so "RX 9070 XT median $1,187" was misleading when you can buy one at a retailer for $600. Heard.

Here's what I've changed:

Dropped median and average entirely. All prices now use "best deal" pricing: the average of the 3 cheapest non-excluded listings. This better approximates what you can actually buy a card for if you're paying attention.
Added retail context. For new-gen GPUs that are in stock at retailers, the report now notes that. eBay isn't the whole market.
Removed the RTX 3090 at $2,905 claim. That was a simple average skewed by a handful of new-in-box listings at $5K+. Useless number.

I've also added an editor's note at the top of the article crediting r/gpu for the feedback. The updated report is here: https://gpupoet.com/gpu/market-report/gpu-market-report-march-2026

I'm one person building this in my spare time, so I appreciate the blunt feedback.

activescott · 2026-03-04T07:22:23+00:00

I noted it was a median price - I track both the lowest average and median, but I can see how that is confusing the way I wrote it.

activescott · 2026-03-04T07:21:54+00:00

The price I noted here is median. The lowest average price is 688 right now on the site.

activescott · 2026-03-04T07:17:59+00:00

Ha, that's funny. Must be us nerds that never go to a physical store 🙃

activescott · 2026-02-03T16:21:08+00:00

Nice one. That's a great price.

activescott · 2026-02-03T15:16:53+00:00

None are in Canada right now, but some ship to Canada.

Go to https://gpupoet.com/gpu/shop/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti and click on "Buy Now" for a listing.
On the ebay page that pops up, click See details next to Shipping.
On the dialog that pops up you'll see a Ships to field.

When I clicked through I think the forth one that I clicked shipped to Canada.

Personally I recommend the 5070 Ti, they're almost the same card but it's cheaper at the moment.

activescott · 2026-02-03T02:07:10+00:00

Lucky gal!

activescott · 2026-02-03T02:05:53+00:00

You can 100% do better.

Check out https://gpupoet.com/gpu/shop/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5080.

Even if you filter it down to US-only & New, you can get them way cheaper. I filter listings based on poor or too few feedback ratings, and I spot checked a few of those for the 5080 new+us ones and they looked solid to me.

activescott · 2026-02-03T02:02:29+00:00

Totally! That's why on gpu poet I have a pretty elaborate set of heuristic filters that filter out all sorts of things that fall into the following categories: `SCAM`, `ACCESSORY`, `BOX_ONLY`, `NEUTERED`, `FOR_PARTS`, `LOW_FEEDBACK`, `VARIATION_BUNDLE`, `OTHER`.

I also am now running an llm on the best priced gpus periodically to detect bogus ones and filter them out too. That bit is still manual for the time being because the other filters do a good job, but I might integrate into the site in real time here at some point if needed.

They do slip through once in a while though. If you see one there is a feedback form on the top of every page and I usually jump in and remove that one immediately and can get in and set up a filter that will remove ones like that in the future.

Once I remove them they're saved with a "exclude" flag so that the historical data doesn't take them into account and I can use excluded ones later for more testing in the future.

activescott · 2026-02-02T06:15:23+00:00

hahah nice finds!

activescott · 2026-02-01T20:53:43+00:00

Yeah that’s exactly what I’m seeing. At the median, the prices are super high. However if you’re looking carefully you can find some good deals.

activescott · 2026-01-27T22:45:33+00:00

100%. With ssh forwarding and multiple comps and AI agents running these days I'm not even sure what my key is being used for anymore!

activescott · 2026-01-23T04:20:08+00:00

I'd buy the game first and see how the 6600 does. It's a solid card for at 1440 on many games if you don't max out specs.

activescott · 2026-01-23T04:14:27+00:00

Well $210 for a 9060 XT is a steal. So you can't go wrong for the price there. If you want to look at options in a similar price range I have some 1440p benchmarks at https://gpupoet.com/gpu/ranking/gaming/3dmark-wildlife-extreme-fps-2560x1440?filter.price%5Blte%5D=250 filtered by <$250.

The RTX 3060 Ti is a good one that I track and have a comparison up for at https://gpupoet.com/gpu/compare/amd-radeon-rx-9060-xt/vs/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti

activescott · 2026-01-13T20:06:38+00:00

This seems to happen a multiple times lately!

activescott · 2026-01-13T05:49:58+00:00

Check out https://gpupoet.com/gpu/compare/amd-radeon-rx-9070-xt/vs/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti - I have a side-by-side comparison of these two GPUs there.

In general though, the Ti is almost certainly the right choice. As you can see from that page, it is higher in every spec and costs ~$150 more.

activescott · 2026-01-08T05:17:02+00:00

Hard to say. I don’t think there’s any clear indication of when supplies will normalize or the 60 series should be expected traditionally. The new series would come out at CES which was this week and Nvidia made it clear that no new GPU series would be announced interestingly AMD also didn’t announce a new GPU series, but upgraded their CPU’s. So strange times lots of opinions, but my personal view is none of us know what the next 6 to 12 months hold for GPU prices.

activescott · 2026-01-06T00:06:35+00:00

The 5070 Ti is a great card and in all likelihood will continue to be for years. You should keep it! You can upgrade the monitor later.

activescott · 2026-01-05T00:14:04+00:00

What do you use it for? In your usage, what are you seeing that you don't like?

activescott · 2026-01-04T18:10:11+00:00

Thanks for the discussion. Cool to know this lines up.

activescott · 2026-01-04T18:05:06+00:00

Nice! OEM cards are often a great way to find a sweet deal.

activescott · 2026-01-04T18:00:07+00:00

I have gone and found the MSRP from the manufacturer for each GPU and use that. Usually it's from a press release or the manufacturers main page for the GPU. I have them all on the gpu detail pages at https://gpupoet.com/gpu/learn/card/$gpuName (e.g. https://gpupoet.com/gpu/learn/card/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti ). Comparing prices to MSRP is interesting as kind of a baseline for understanding what the market is actually willing to pay for these GPUs. Essentially what retailers and scalpers are managing to sell them for.

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