Can Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct run on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct feels slow on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

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.

NO — Won't Fit

F0Won't run

Estimated from fit model

Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct needs ~22.5 GB but RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB only has 12.0 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: No fitBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory capacity

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) — 22.5 GB, exceeds 12.0 GB available

22.5 GB required12.0 GB available

188% VRAM needed

10.5 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

7.4 tok/s

TTFT

26064 ms

Safe context

Memory

22.5 GB / 12.0 GB

Offload

50%

Memory breakdown

Weights18.6 GB

KV Cache1.5 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsQwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort:

def quicksort(arr):
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1]
print(quicksort(numbers))  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10]

The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm.

    Args:
        arr: List of integers to sort.

    Returns:
        A new sorted list.
    """
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 7.4 tok/s decode · 26.1s TTFT (warm) · 19 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

Usable VRAM is the main blocker for this model.

Not enough usable memory

The model needs 22.5 GB, but this setup only exposes 12.0 GB of usable VRAM.

Best improvement path

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.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	7.3 tok/s	14419 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	6.8 tok/s	28344 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	6.0 tok/s	47090 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	6.8 tok/s	33498 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	6.0 tok/s	58863 ms	4K

Quantization options

How Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct (30.5B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	11.9 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	14.9 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct well

RTX 4000 Ada 20GBBest value

20 GB VRAM (+8)360 GB/s (+24)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.23.2 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Raises estimated decode speed by about 214%.

~$1,250 MSRP

RTX 3090 24GBBudget pick

24 GB VRAM (+12)936 GB/s (+600)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.99.1 tok/s decode

Makes 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 24GBNVIDIA upgrade

24 GB VRAM (+12)1008 GB/s (+672)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.115.8 tok/s decode

Makes 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

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

No, Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct requires more memory than RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB provides.

How much VRAM does Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct need?

Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct (30.5B parameters) requires approximately 22.5 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

The recommended quantization for Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct run at on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct achieves approximately 6.8 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 28344ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB receives a F grade with 6.8 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct use on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 256K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB See all hardware for Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct

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