Can Qwen 3 8B run on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

YES — Runs Great

S95Excellent

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 3 8B needs ~9.5 GB VRAM. RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~54 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: 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) — 9.5 GB, 54.0 tok/s, Runs well

9.5 GB required12.0 GB available

79% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

54.0 tok/s

TTFT

3583 ms

Safe context

34K

Memory

9.5 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsQwen 3 8B on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB
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: 54.0 tok/s decode · 3.6s TTFT (warm) · 135 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	S	Runs well	54.0 tok/s	1954 ms	34K
Coding	S	Runs well	54.0 tok/s	3583 ms	34K
Agentic Coding	S	Runs with offload	54.0 tok/s	5212 ms	34K
Reasoning	S	Runs well	54.0 tok/s	4235 ms	34K
RAG	S	Runs with offload	54.0 tok/s	6515 ms	34K

Quantization options

How Qwen 3 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	S89
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	S90
NVFP4	4

Get started

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

Run

ollama run qwen3:8b

Your hardware

More models your RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	48 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	A	18.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run Qwen 3 8B?

Yes, RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB can run Qwen 3 8B with a S grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 54.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 3 8B need?

Qwen 3 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.5 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 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, Qwen 3 8B achieves approximately 54.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3583ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run Qwen 3 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 3 8B on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB receives a S grade with 54.0 tok/s and 34K context.

What context window can Qwen 3 8B use on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, Qwen 3 8B can safely use up to 34K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB See all hardware for Qwen 3 8B

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