Can Llama 3.1 8B run on NVIDIA A2 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

A73Great

Estimated from fit model

Llama 3.1 8B needs ~9.6 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A2 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~34 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: 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) — 9.6 GB, 34.4 tok/s, Runs well

9.6 GB required16.0 GB available

60% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

34.4 tok/s

TTFT

5634 ms

Safe context

68K

Memory

9.6 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.0 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsLlama 3.1 8B on NVIDIA A2 16GB
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: 34.4 tok/s decode · 5.6s TTFT (warm) · 86 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	A	Runs well	34.4 tok/s	3073 ms	68K
Coding	A	Runs well	34.4 tok/s	5634 ms	68K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	34.4 tok/s	8194 ms	68K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	34.4 tok/s	6658 ms	68K
RAG	A	Runs well	34.4 tok/s	10243 ms	68K

Quantization options

How Llama 3.1 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A2 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	B68
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	B69
NVFP4	4

Get started

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

Run

ollama run llama3.1

Your hardware

More models your NVIDIA A2 16GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	30.5 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	S	19.7 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA A2 16GB run Llama 3.1 8B?

Yes, NVIDIA A2 16GB can run Llama 3.1 8B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 34.4 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Llama 3.1 8B need?

Llama 3.1 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.6 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Llama 3.1 8B?

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

What speed will Llama 3.1 8B run at on NVIDIA A2 16GB?

On NVIDIA A2 16GB, Llama 3.1 8B achieves approximately 34.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5634ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA A2 16GB run Llama 3.1 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Llama 3.1 8B on NVIDIA A2 16GB receives a A grade with 34.4 tok/s and 68K context.

What context window can Llama 3.1 8B use on NVIDIA A2 16GB?

On NVIDIA A2 16GB, Llama 3.1 8B can safely use up to 68K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA A2 16GB See all hardware for Llama 3.1 8B

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