Can StableLM 2 12B run on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

C52Usable

Estimated from fit model

StableLM 2 12B needs ~26.5 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A40 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~59 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: 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

Q5_K_M (High quality) — 26.5 GB, 58.6 tok/s, Runs well

26.5 GB required48.0 GB available

55% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

58.6 tok/s

TTFT

3303 ms

Safe context

Memory

26.5 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.6 GB

KV Cache12.2 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStableLM 2 12B on NVIDIA A40 48GB
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: 58.6 tok/s decode · 3.3s TTFT (warm) · 147 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	C	Runs well	58.6 tok/s	1802 ms	4K
Coding	C	Runs well	58.6 tok/s	3303 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	58.6 tok/s	4804 ms	4K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	58.6 tok/s	3903 ms	4K
RAG	B	Runs well	58.6 tok/s	6005 ms	4K

Quantization options

How StableLM 2 12B (12B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A40 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	4.7 GB	Low	C41
Q3_K_S	3	5.9 GB	Low	C42
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run StableLM 2 12B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "stabilityai/stablelm-2-12b-chat" \
  --hf-file "stablelm-2-12b-chat-Q5_K_M.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run StableLM 2 12B?

Yes, NVIDIA A40 48GB can run StableLM 2 12B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 58.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does StableLM 2 12B need?

StableLM 2 12B (12B parameters) requires approximately 26.5 GB of memory with Q5_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for StableLM 2 12B?

The recommended quantization for StableLM 2 12B is Q5_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will StableLM 2 12B run at on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, StableLM 2 12B achieves approximately 58.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3303ms using Q5_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run StableLM 2 12B for coding?

For coding workloads, StableLM 2 12B on NVIDIA A40 48GB receives a C grade with 58.6 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can StableLM 2 12B use on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, StableLM 2 12B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 4K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA A40 48GB See all hardware for StableLM 2 12B

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