Can Phi 3 Medium 14B run on NVIDIA T4 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B61Good

Estimated from fit model

Phi 3 Medium 14B needs ~14.4 GB VRAM. NVIDIA T4 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~26 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: LowStack: 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) — 14.4 GB, 26.2 tok/s, Tight fit

14.4 GB required16.0 GB available

90% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

26.2 tok/s

TTFT

7394 ms

Safe context

24K

Memory

14.4 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache3.1 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi 3 Medium 14B on NVIDIA T4 16GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 26.2 tok/s decode · 7.4s TTFT (warm) · 66 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	B	Runs well	26.2 tok/s	4033 ms	24K
Coding	B	Tight fit	26.2 tok/s	7394 ms	24K
Agentic Coding	C	Very compromised (needs ~0.7 GB host RAM)	15.8 tok/s	17825 ms	24K
Reasoning	B	Tight fit	26.2 tok/s	8739 ms	24K
RAG	C	Very compromised (needs ~0.7 GB host RAM)	15.8 tok/s	22281 ms

Quantization options

How Phi 3 Medium 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA T4 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.5 GB	Low	B60
Q3_K_S	3	6.9 GB	Low	B62
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi 3 Medium 14B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi3:medium

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Phi 3 Medium 14B well

RTX 4000 Ada 20GBBudget pick

20 GB VRAM (+4)360 GB/s (+40)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 35%.35.3 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 35%.

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

~$1,250 MSRP

RTX 3090 24GBBest value

24 GB VRAM (+8)936 GB/s (+616)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 215%.82.5 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 215%.

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

~$1,499 MSRP

RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell 24GBNVIDIA upgrade

24 GB VRAM (+8)672 GB/s (+352)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 171%.71.1 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 171%.

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

~$1,599 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA T4 16GB run Phi 3 Medium 14B?

Yes, NVIDIA T4 16GB can run Phi 3 Medium 14B with a B grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 26.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi 3 Medium 14B need?

Phi 3 Medium 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 14.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi 3 Medium 14B?

The recommended quantization for Phi 3 Medium 14B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi 3 Medium 14B run at on NVIDIA T4 16GB?

On NVIDIA T4 16GB, Phi 3 Medium 14B achieves approximately 26.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 7394ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA T4 16GB run Phi 3 Medium 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi 3 Medium 14B on NVIDIA T4 16GB receives a B grade with 26.2 tok/s and 24K context.

What context window can Phi 3 Medium 14B use on NVIDIA T4 16GB?

On NVIDIA T4 16GB, Phi 3 Medium 14B can safely use up to 24K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA T4 16GB See all hardware for Phi 3 Medium 14B

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