Can Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct run on RTX 3050 8GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct feels slow on RTX 3050 8GB?

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

YES — With Offload

C50Usable

Estimated from fit model

Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct needs ~7.8 GB VRAM. RTX 3050 8GB has 8.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~30 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

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) — 7.8 GB, 30.3 tok/s, Runs with offload

7.8 GB required8.0 GB available

98% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs with offload

Decode

30.3 tok/s

TTFT

6390 ms

Safe context

19K

Memory

7.8 GB / 8.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache0.9 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsMeta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on RTX 3050 8GB
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: 30.3 tok/s decode · 6.4s TTFT (warm) · 76 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	C	Tight fit	30.3 tok/s	3486 ms	19K
Coding	C	Runs with offload	30.3 tok/s	6390 ms	19K
Agentic Coding	D	Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM)	18.8 tok/s	14985 ms	19K
Reasoning	C	Runs with offload	30.3 tok/s	7552 ms	19K
RAG	D	Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM)	18.8 tok/s	18731 ms

Quantization options

How Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3050 8GB (8.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	C54
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	C54
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

RTX 3060 12GBBudget pick

12 GB VRAM (+4)360 GB/s (+136)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 61%.48.7 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 61%.

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

~$329 MSRP

RTX 5060 Ti 16GBBest value

16 GB VRAM (+8)448 GB/s (+224)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.56.9 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.

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

~$449 MSRP

RTX 4060 Ti 16GBNVIDIA upgrade

16 GB VRAM (+8)288 GB/s (+64)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 42%.43.1 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 42%.

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

~$499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3050 8GB run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Yes, RTX 3050 8GB can run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct with a C grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 30.3 tok/s.

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

Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (8B parameters) requires approximately 7.8 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 RTX 3050 8GB?

On RTX 3050 8GB, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct achieves approximately 30.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6390ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3050 8GB run Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on RTX 3050 8GB receives a C grade with 30.3 tok/s and 19K context.

What context window can Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct use on RTX 3050 8GB?

On RTX 3050 8GB, Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct can safely use up to 19K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 3050 8GB See all hardware for Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

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