Can Starling LM 7B run on RX 6950 XT 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

C53Usable

Estimated from fit model

Starling LM 7B needs ~8.7 GB VRAM. RX 6950 XT 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~78 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

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 8.7 GB, 84.1 tok/s, Runs well

8.7 GB required16.0 GB available

54% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

84.1 tok/s

TTFT

2302 ms

Safe context

Memory

8.7 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB

KV Cache2.0 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStarling LM 7B on RX 6950 XT 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: 84.1 tok/s decode · 2.3s TTFT (warm) · 210 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	84.1 tok/s	1256 ms	8K
Coding	C	Runs well	78.2 tok/s	2474 ms	8K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	84.1 tok/s	3348 ms	8K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	84.1 tok/s	2720 ms	8K
RAG	B	Runs well	84.1 tok/s	4185 ms	8K

Quantization options

How Starling LM 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on RX 6950 XT 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

Frequently asked questions

Can RX 6950 XT 16GB run Starling LM 7B?

Yes, RX 6950 XT 16GB can run Starling LM 7B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 78.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Starling LM 7B need?

Starling LM 7B (7B parameters) requires approximately 8.7 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 RX 6950 XT 16GB?

On RX 6950 XT 16GB, Starling LM 7B achieves approximately 78.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2474ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RX 6950 XT 16GB run Starling LM 7B for coding?

For coding workloads, Starling LM 7B on RX 6950 XT 16GB receives a C grade with 78.2 tok/s and 8K context.

What context window can Starling LM 7B use on RX 6950 XT 16GB?

On RX 6950 XT 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 RX 6950 XT 16GB See all hardware for Starling LM 7B

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