Can SmolVLM 500M Instruct run on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

D37Poor

Estimated from fit model

SmolVLM 500M Instruct needs ~6.2 GB VRAM. NVIDIA L40S 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q6_K quantization, expect ~8 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q6_K (High quality) — 6.2 GB, 8.0 tok/s, Runs well

6.2 GB required48.0 GB available

13% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

8.0 tok/s

TTFT

24200 ms

Safe context

6.7M

Memory

6.2 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights0.4 GB

KV Cache0.1 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsSmolVLM 500M Instruct on NVIDIA L40S 48GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 8.0 tok/s decode · 24.2s TTFT (warm) · 20 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

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.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	D	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	13200 ms	3.4M
Coding	D	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	24200 ms	6.7M
Agentic Coding	D	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	35200 ms	11.4M
Reasoning	D	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	28600 ms	6.7M
RAG	D	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	44000 ms	11.4M

Quantization options

How SmolVLM 500M Instruct (0.5B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA L40S 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	0.2 GB	Low	C42
Q3_K_S	3	0.2 GB	Low	C42
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run SmolVLM 500M Instruct on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "ggml-org/SmolVLM-500M-Instruct-GGUF" \
  --hf-file "SmolVLM-500M-Instruct-GGUF-Q6_K.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs SmolVLM 500M Instruct well

MacBook Pro M4 Max 96GBBudget pick

96 GB Unified (+48)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.7 tok/s decode

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GBBest value

128 GB Unified (+80)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.7 tok/s decode

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA L40S 48GB run SmolVLM 500M Instruct?

Yes, NVIDIA L40S 48GB can run SmolVLM 500M Instruct with a D grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 8.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does SmolVLM 500M Instruct need?

SmolVLM 500M Instruct (0.5B parameters) requires approximately 6.2 GB of memory with Q6_K quantization.

What is the best quantization for SmolVLM 500M Instruct?

The recommended quantization for SmolVLM 500M Instruct is Q6_K, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will SmolVLM 500M Instruct run at on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

On NVIDIA L40S 48GB, SmolVLM 500M Instruct achieves approximately 8.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 24200ms using Q6_K quantization.

Can NVIDIA L40S 48GB run SmolVLM 500M Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, SmolVLM 500M Instruct on NVIDIA L40S 48GB receives a D grade with 8.0 tok/s and 6.7M context.

What context window can SmolVLM 500M Instruct use on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

On NVIDIA L40S 48GB, SmolVLM 500M Instruct can safely use up to 6.7M tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA L40S 48GB See all hardware for SmolVLM 500M Instruct

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