Can Starling LM 7B run on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

C52Usable

Estimated from fit model

Starling LM 7B needs ~9.0 GB VRAM. RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~53 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) — 9.0 GB, 52.9 tok/s, Runs well

9.0 GB required16.0 GB available

56% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

52.9 tok/s

TTFT

3658 ms

Safe context

Memory

9.0 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB

KV Cache2.0 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStarling LM 7B on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB
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: 52.9 tok/s decode · 3.7s TTFT (warm) · 132 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	52.9 tok/s	1995 ms	8K
Coding	C	Runs well	52.9 tok/s	3658 ms	8K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	52.9 tok/s	5320 ms	8K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	52.9 tok/s	4323 ms	8K
RAG	B	Runs well	52.9 tok/s	6650 ms	8K

Quantization options

How Starling LM 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	2.7 GB	Low	C47
Q3_K_S	3	3.4 GB	Low	C48
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Starling LM 7B on your machine.

Run

ollama run starling-lm

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Starling LM 7B well

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GBBudget pick

24 GB Unified (+8)

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.48.7 tok/s decode

~$1,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4060 Ti 16GB run Starling LM 7B?

Yes, RTX 4060 Ti 16GB can run Starling LM 7B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 52.9 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Starling LM 7B need?

Starling LM 7B (7B parameters) requires approximately 9.0 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Starling LM 7B?

The recommended quantization for Starling LM 7B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Starling LM 7B run at on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?

On RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, Starling LM 7B achieves approximately 52.9 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3658ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4060 Ti 16GB run Starling LM 7B for coding?

For coding workloads, Starling LM 7B on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB receives a C grade with 52.9 tok/s and 8K context.

What context window can Starling LM 7B use on RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?

On RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, Starling LM 7B can safely use up to 8K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 8K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 4060 Ti 16GB See all hardware for Starling LM 7B

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<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/starling-7b-on-rtx-4060-ti-16gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

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