Can Llama 3.1 8B run on RTX 4090 24GB?

YES — Runs Great

A72Great

Measured on real hardware· rtx-4090-24gb

Llama 3.1 8B needs ~10.1 GB VRAM. RTX 4090 24GB has 24.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~130 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

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 10.1 GB, 128.0 tok/s, Runs well

10.1 GB required24.0 GB available

42% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

128.0 tok/s

TTFT

1513 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

10.1 GB / 24.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.0 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom2.4 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsLlama 3.1 8B on RTX 4090 24GB
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: 128.0 tok/s decode · 1.5s TTFT (warm) · 320 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	128.0 tok/s	825 ms	128K
Coding	A	Runs well	130.0 tok/s	1729 ms	128K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	128.0 tok/s	2200 ms	128K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	128.0 tok/s	1788 ms	128K
RAG	A	Runs well	128.0 tok/s	2750 ms	128K

Quantization options

How Llama 3.1 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4090 24GB (24.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	B66
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	B66
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 RTX 4090 24GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	83.4 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	S	34.8 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4090 24GB run Llama 3.1 8B?

Yes, RTX 4090 24GB can run Llama 3.1 8B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 130.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Llama 3.1 8B need?

Llama 3.1 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 10.1 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 RTX 4090 24GB?

On RTX 4090 24GB, Llama 3.1 8B achieves approximately 130.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 1729ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4090 24GB run Llama 3.1 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Llama 3.1 8B on RTX 4090 24GB receives a A grade with 130.0 tok/s and 128K context.

What context window can Llama 3.1 8B use on RTX 4090 24GB?

On RTX 4090 24GB, Llama 3.1 8B can safely use up to 128K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 4090 24GB See all hardware for Llama 3.1 8B

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