Dolphin 2.9 8B needs ~9.2 GB VRAM. RTX 5070 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~87 tok/s.
Operating mode
Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.
Current mode
Balanced
Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.
Select quantization to explore
Fit status
Runs well
Decode
93.3 tok/s
TTFT
2076 ms
Safe context
33K
Memory
9.2 GB / 12.0 GB
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.
No major red flags
This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | B | Runs well | 86.8 tok/s | 1217 ms | 33K |
| Coding | B | Runs well | 86.8 tok/s | 2232 ms | 33K |
| Agentic Coding | C | Tight fit | 86.8 tok/s | 3246 ms | 33K |
| Reasoning | B | Runs well | 86.8 tok/s | 2637 ms | 33K |
| RAG | C | Tight fit | 86.8 tok/s | 4057 ms | 33K |
How Dolphin 2.9 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 5070 12GB (12.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 3.1 GB | Low | C50 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 3.9 GB | Low | C51 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run Dolphin 2.9 8B on your machine.
Run
ollama run dolphin-llama3Yes, RTX 5070 12GB can run Dolphin 2.9 8B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 86.8 tok/s.
Dolphin 2.9 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Dolphin 2.9 8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On RTX 5070 12GB, Dolphin 2.9 8B achieves approximately 86.8 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2232ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Dolphin 2.9 8B on RTX 5070 12GB receives a B grade with 86.8 tok/s and 33K context.
On RTX 5070 12GB, Dolphin 2.9 8B can safely use up to 33K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/dolphin-2.9-8b-on-rtx-5070-12gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
4.5 GB |
| Medium |
| C52 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 4.9 GB | Medium | C52 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 5.8 GB | High | C53 |
Q6_K | 6 | 6.6 GB | High | C53 |
Q8_0Best for your GPU | 8 | 8.6 GB | Very High | C52 |
F16 | 16 | 16.4 GB | Maximum | F0 |