Can Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct run on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

C47Usable

Estimated from fit model

Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct needs ~11.8 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A40 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~111 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: BasicBottleneck: 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

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 11.8 GB, 111.2 tok/s, Runs well

11.8 GB required48.0 GB available

25% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

111.2 tok/s

TTFT

1740 ms

Safe context

634K

Memory

11.8 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache0.9 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsMeta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on NVIDIA A40 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: 111.2 tok/s decode · 1.7s TTFT (warm) · 278 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	C	Runs well	111.2 tok/s	949 ms	634K
Coding	C	Runs well	111.2 tok/s	1740 ms	634K
Agentic Coding	C	Runs well	111.2 tok/s	2531 ms	634K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	111.2 tok/s	2057 ms	634K
RAG	C	Runs well	111.2 tok/s	3164 ms	634K

Quantization options

How Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (8B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A40 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	C42
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	C42
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-maziyarpanahi--meta-llama-3-1-8b-instruct-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct well

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GBBudget pick

96 GB Unified (+48)819 GB/s (+123)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.112 tok/s decode

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

~$3,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Yes, NVIDIA A40 48GB can run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 111.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct need?

Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (8B parameters) requires approximately 11.8 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

The recommended quantization for Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct run at on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct achieves approximately 111.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 1740ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on NVIDIA A40 48GB receives a C grade with 111.2 tok/s and 634K context.

What context window can Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct use on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct can safely use up to 634K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA A40 48GB See all hardware for Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

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