Can Qwen 3 8B run on RTX 3050 8GB?

BARELY — Tight on Memory

A78Great

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 3 8B needs ~9.1 GB VRAM. RTX 3050 8GB has 8.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~17 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: Host offload

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) — 9.1 GB, 18.7 tok/s, Very compromised (needs ~0.6 GB host RAM)

9.1 GB required8.0 GB available

114% VRAM needed

1.1 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Very compromised (needs ~0.6 GB host RAM)

Decode

18.7 tok/s

TTFT

10341 ms

Safe context

Memory

9.1 GB / 8.0 GB

Offload

10%

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsQwen 3 8B on RTX 3050 8GB
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: 18.7 tok/s decode · 10.3s TTFT (warm) · 47 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly {ram} GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	S	Runs with offload	32.6 tok/s	3243 ms	8K
Coding	A	Very compromised	17.4 tok/s	11116 ms	8K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	11.9 tok/s	23739 ms	8K
Reasoning	A	Very compromised (needs ~0.6 GB host RAM)	18.7 tok/s	12221 ms	8K
RAG	F	Too heavy	11.9 tok/s	29673 ms	8K

Quantization options

How Qwen 3 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3050 8GB (8.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	S94
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	S93
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 3 8B on your machine.

Run

ollama run qwen3:8b

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3050 8GB run Qwen 3 8B?

Yes, RTX 3050 8GB can run Qwen 3 8B with a A grade (Very compromised). Expected decode speed: 17.4 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 3 8B need?

Qwen 3 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 3 8B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen 3 8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Qwen 3 8B run at on RTX 3050 8GB?

On RTX 3050 8GB, Qwen 3 8B achieves approximately 17.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 11116ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3050 8GB run Qwen 3 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 3 8B on RTX 3050 8GB receives a A grade with 17.4 tok/s and 8K context.

What context window can Qwen 3 8B use on RTX 3050 8GB?

On RTX 3050 8GB, Qwen 3 8B can safely use up to 8K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Qwen 3 8B feels slow on RTX 3050 8GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

See all results for RTX 3050 8GB See all hardware for Qwen 3 8B

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