Can Phi 3 Mini 3.8B run on RTX 5070 12GB?

YES — Tight Fit

A70Great

Estimated from fit model

Phi 3 Mini 3.8B needs ~10.3 GB VRAM. RTX 5070 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~72 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: MediumStack: 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) — 10.3 GB, 72.2 tok/s, Tight fit

10.3 GB required12.0 GB available

86% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

72.2 tok/s

TTFT

2681 ms

Safe context

21K

Memory

10.3 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights2.3 GB

KV Cache5.9 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi 3 Mini 3.8B on RTX 5070 12GB
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: 72.2 tok/s decode · 2.7s TTFT (warm) · 181 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	72.2 tok/s	1463 ms	21K
Coding	A	Tight fit	72.2 tok/s	2681 ms	21K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	72.2 tok/s	3900 ms	21K
Reasoning	A	Tight fit	72.2 tok/s	3169 ms	21K
RAG	F	Too heavy	72.2 tok/s	4875 ms	21K

Quantization options

How Phi 3 Mini 3.8B (3.799999952316284B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 5070 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	1.5 GB	Low	B65
Q3_K_S	3	1.9 GB	Low	B65
NVFP4	4	2.1 GB	Medium	B65
Q4_K_M	4	2.3 GB	Medium	B65
Q5_K_M	5	2.7 GB	High	B66
Q6_K	6	3.1 GB	High	B66
Q8_0	8	4.1 GB	Very High	B68
F16Best for your GPU	16	7.8 GB	Maximum	B69

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi3:mini

Your hardware

More models your RTX 5070 12GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	82.9 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	A	34.6 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 4B	4B	S	76 tok/s
Qwen 3 8B	8B	S	93.3 tok/s
Phi-4-reasoning-plus 14B	14.7B	A	26.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 5070 12GB run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B?

Yes, RTX 5070 12GB can run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 72.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi 3 Mini 3.8B need?

Phi 3 Mini 3.8B (3.799999952316284B parameters) requires approximately 10.3 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi 3 Mini 3.8B?

The recommended quantization for Phi 3 Mini 3.8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi 3 Mini 3.8B run at on RTX 5070 12GB?

On RTX 5070 12GB, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B achieves approximately 72.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2681ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 5070 12GB run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B on RTX 5070 12GB receives a A grade with 72.2 tok/s and 21K context.

What context window can Phi 3 Mini 3.8B use on RTX 5070 12GB?

On RTX 5070 12GB, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B can safely use up to 21K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 5070 12GB See all hardware for Phi 3 Mini 3.8B

Embed this result▼

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<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/phi-3-mini-3.8b-on-rtx-5070-12gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

Preview:

Workload

Grade

Fit

Decode

TTFT

Context

Chat

Runs well

72.2 tok/s

1463 ms

21K

Coding

Tight fit

72.2 tok/s

2681 ms

21K

Agentic Coding

Too heavy

72.2 tok/s

3900 ms

21K

Reasoning

Tight fit

72.2 tok/s

3169 ms

21K

RAG

Too heavy

72.2 tok/s

4875 ms

21K

Quantization options

How Phi 3 Mini 3.8B (3.799999952316284B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 5070 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	1.5 GB	Low	B65
Q3_K_S	3	1.9 GB	Low	B65
NVFP4	4	2.1 GB	Medium	B65
Q4_K_M	4	2.3 GB	Medium	B65
Q5_K_M	5	2.7 GB	High	B66
Q6_K	6	3.1 GB	High	B66
Q8_0	8	4.1 GB	Very High	B68
F16Best for your GPU	16	7.8 GB	Maximum	B69

Model

Params

Grade

Decode

Capabilities

Qwen 3.5 9B

82.9 tok/s

Qwen 3 14B

14B

34.6 tok/s

Qwen 3.5 4B

76 tok/s

Qwen 3 8B

93.3 tok/s

Phi-4-reasoning-plus 14B

14.7B

26.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 5070 12GB run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B?

Yes, RTX 5070 12GB can run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 72.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi 3 Mini 3.8B need?

Phi 3 Mini 3.8B (3.799999952316284B parameters) requires approximately 10.3 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi 3 Mini 3.8B?

The recommended quantization for Phi 3 Mini 3.8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi 3 Mini 3.8B run at on RTX 5070 12GB?

On RTX 5070 12GB, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B achieves approximately 72.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2681ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 5070 12GB run Phi 3 Mini 3.8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B on RTX 5070 12GB receives a A grade with 72.2 tok/s and 21K context.

What context window can Phi 3 Mini 3.8B use on RTX 5070 12GB?

On RTX 5070 12GB, Phi 3 Mini 3.8B can safely use up to 21K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.