Nous Dolphin 13B needs ~24.0 GB but RTX 3080 Ti 12GB only has 12.0 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.
Operating mode
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.
Select quantization to explore
12.0 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
12.9 tok/s
TTFT
15056 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
24.0 GB / 12.0 GB
Offload
50%
Usable VRAM is the main blocker for this model.
Not enough usable memory
The model needs 24.0 GB, but this setup only exposes 12.0 GB of usable VRAM.
Add more VRAM headroom
The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 23.9 tok/s | 4423 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 12.9 tok/s | 15056 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 11.0 tok/s | 25526 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 12.9 tok/s | 17793 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 11.0 tok/s | 31908 ms | 4K |
How Nous Dolphin 13B (13B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB (12.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 5.1 GB | Low | A73 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 6.4 GB | Low | A73 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Upgrade options
RTX 3090 24GBBudget pickMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,499 MSRP
RTX 4090 24GBBest valueMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,599 MSRP
RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell 24GBNVIDIA upgradeMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,599 MSRP
No, Nous Dolphin 13B requires more memory than RTX 3080 Ti 12GB provides.
Nous Dolphin 13B (13B parameters) requires approximately 24.0 GB of memory with Q5_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Nous Dolphin 13B is Q5_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Nous Dolphin 13B achieves approximately 12.9 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 15056ms using Q5_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Nous Dolphin 13B on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB receives a F grade with 12.9 tok/s and 4K context.
On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Nous Dolphin 13B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 16K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/nous-dolphin-13b-on-rtx-3080-ti-12gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
7.3 GB |
| Medium |
| A73 |
Q4_K_MBest for your GPU | 4 | 7.9 GB | Medium | A72 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 9.4 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 10.7 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 13.9 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 26.7 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Add more VRAM headroom. The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
