Can Ternary Bonsai 27B run on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

BARELY — Tight on Memory

A78Great

Estimated from fit model

Ternary Bonsai 27B needs ~13.2 GB VRAM. RTX 3080 Ti 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q2_0_G128 quantization, expect ~37 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

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

Q2_0_G128 (Low quality) — 10.3 GB, 44.8 tok/s, Tight fit

10.3 GB required12.0 GB available

86% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

44.8 tok/s

TTFT

4318 ms

Safe context

44K

Memory

10.3 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights7.2 GB

KV Cache1.0 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsTernary Bonsai 27B on RTX 3080 Ti 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: 44.8 tok/s decode · 4.3s TTFT (warm) · 112 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly {ram} GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	S	Tight fit	60.7 tok/s	1740 ms	11K
Coding	A	Very compromised	37.2 tok/s	5211 ms	11K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	21.5 tok/s	13073 ms	11K
Reasoning	A	Very compromised	37.2 tok/s	6158 ms	11K
RAG	F	Too heavy	21.5 tok/s	16341 ms	11K

Inference speed

Ternary Bonsai 27B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Ternary Bonsai 27B at Q2_0_G128 across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 4080 Super 16GB at ~87 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q2_0_G128	87.2	Fits
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q2_0_G128	76.2	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q2_0_G128	64.6	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q2_0_G128	60.3	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q2_0_G128	59.6	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q2_0_G128	59.6	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q2_0_G128	50.2	Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q2_0_G128	47.6	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q2_0_G128	43.8	Fits
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q2_0_G128	42.6	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q2_0_G128	37.5	Fits
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q2_0_G128	26.0	Tight
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q2_0_G128	26.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q2_0_G128	23.8	Fits
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q2_0_G128	17.5	Tight
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q2_0_G128	6.6	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q2_0_G128; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q1_0_G128	1.125	3.9 GB	Very Low	S89
Q2_0_G128Best for your GPU	1.71	7.2 GB	Low	S89
Q2_K	2	10.5 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	13.2 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4	15.1 GB	Medium	F0
Q4_K_M	4	16.5 GB	Medium	F0
Q5_K_M	5	19.4 GB	High	F0
Q6_K	6	22.1 GB	High	F0
Q8_0	8	28.9 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	55.4 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Ternary Bonsai 27B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "prism-ml/Ternary-Bonsai-27B-gguf" \
  --hf-file "Ternary-Bonsai-27B-gguf-Q2_0_G128.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3080 Ti 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B?

Yes, RTX 3080 Ti 12GB can run Ternary Bonsai 27B with a A grade (Very compromised). Expected decode speed: 37.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Ternary Bonsai 27B need?

Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B parameters) requires approximately 13.2 GB of memory with Q2_0_G128 quantization.

What is the best quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B?

The recommended quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B is Q2_0_G128, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Ternary Bonsai 27B run at on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B achieves approximately 37.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5211ms using Q2_0_G128 quantization.

Can RTX 3080 Ti 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B for coding?

For coding workloads, Ternary Bonsai 27B on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB receives a A grade with 37.2 tok/s and 11K context.

What context window can Ternary Bonsai 27B use on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B can safely use up to 11K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 262K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Ternary Bonsai 27B feels slow on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

See all results for RTX 3080 Ti 12GB See all hardware for Ternary Bonsai 27B

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Preview:

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly {ram} GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Workload

Grade

Fit

Decode

TTFT

Context

Chat

Tight fit

60.7 tok/s

1740 ms

11K

Coding

Very compromised

37.2 tok/s

5211 ms

11K

Agentic Coding

Too heavy

21.5 tok/s

13073 ms

11K

Reasoning

Very compromised

37.2 tok/s

6158 ms

11K

RAG

Too heavy

21.5 tok/s

16341 ms

11K

Ternary Bonsai 27B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

GPU / Mac

Memory

Quant

Speed (tok/s)

Fits?

RTX 4080 Super 16GB

16 GB

Q2_0_G128

87.2

Fits

RTX 5090 32GB

32 GB

Q2_0_G128

76.2

Fits

RX 7900 XTX 24GB

24 GB

Q2_0_G128

64.6

Fits

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB

256 GB

Q2_0_G128

60.3

Fits

MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB

128 GB

Q2_0_G128

59.6

Fits

MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q2_0_G128

59.6

Fits

Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB

128 GB

Q2_0_G128

50.2

Fits

Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB

128 GB

Q2_0_G128

47.6

Fits

RTX 4090 24GB

24 GB

Q2_0_G128

43.8

Fits

RTX 3090 24GB

24 GB

Q2_0_G128

42.6

Fits

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB

48 GB

Q2_0_G128

37.5

Fits

RTX 4070 12GB

12 GB

Q2_0_G128

26.0

Tight

MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q2_0_G128

26.0

Fits

MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q2_0_G128

23.8

Fits

RTX 3060 12GB

12 GB

Q2_0_G128

17.5

Tight

RTX 4060 8GB

8 GB

Q2_0_G128

6.6

Too big

Quantization options

How Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q1_0_G128	1.125	3.9 GB	Very Low	S89
Q2_0_G128Best for your GPU	1.71	7.2 GB	Low	S89
Q2_K	2	10.5 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	13.2 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4	15.1 GB	Medium	F0
Q4_K_M	4	16.5 GB	Medium	F0
Q5_K_M	5	19.4 GB	High	F0
Q6_K	6	22.1 GB	High	F0
Q8_0	8	28.9 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	55.4 GB	Maximum	F0

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3080 Ti 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B?

Yes, RTX 3080 Ti 12GB can run Ternary Bonsai 27B with a A grade (Very compromised). Expected decode speed: 37.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Ternary Bonsai 27B need?

Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B parameters) requires approximately 13.2 GB of memory with Q2_0_G128 quantization.

What is the best quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B?

The recommended quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B is Q2_0_G128, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Ternary Bonsai 27B run at on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B achieves approximately 37.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5211ms using Q2_0_G128 quantization.

Can RTX 3080 Ti 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B for coding?

For coding workloads, Ternary Bonsai 27B on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB receives a A grade with 37.2 tok/s and 11K context.

What context window can Ternary Bonsai 27B use on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

On RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B can safely use up to 11K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 262K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Ternary Bonsai 27B feels slow on RTX 3080 Ti 12GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.