Can Llama 3.2 3B Instruct run on RTX 4080 Super 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

C47Usable
Estimated from fit model

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct needs ~5.0 GB VRAM. RTX 4080 Super 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~48 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
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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) 5.0 GB, 48.0 tok/s, Runs well
5.0 GB required16.0 GB available
31% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

48.0 tok/s

TTFT

4033 ms

Safe context

516K

Memory

5.0 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights2.2 GB
KV Cache0.4 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsLlama 3.2 3B Instruct on RTX 4080 Super 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: 48.0 tok/s decode · 4.0s TTFT (warm) · 120 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatCRuns well48.0 tok/s2200 ms516K
CodingCRuns well48.0 tok/s4033 ms516K
Agentic CodingCRuns well48.0 tok/s5867 ms516K
ReasoningCRuns well48.0 tok/s4767 ms516K
RAGCRuns well48.0 tok/s7333 ms516K

Inference speed

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct at Q5_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~57 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 / MacMemoryQuantSpeed (tok/s)Fits?
NVIDIARTX 5090 32GB
32 GBQ5_K_M57.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 4090 24GB
24 GBQ5_K_M48.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 4080 Super 16GB
16 GBQ5_K_M48.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 3090 24GB
24 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 4070 12GB
12 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 3060 12GB
12 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
NVIDIARTX 4060 8GB
8 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB
24 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB
128 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
256 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB
128 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB
128 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB
64 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB
64 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB
64 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB
48 GBQ5_K_M42.0Fits

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q5_K_M; 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 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (3B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4080 Super 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
1.2 GB
LowC46
Q3_K_S
3
1.5 GB
LowC46
NVFP4
4
1.7 GB
MediumC46
Q4_K_M
4
1.8 GB
MediumC46
Q5_K_M
5
2.2 GB
HighC47
Q6_K
6
2.5 GB
HighC47
Q8_0
8
3.2 GB
Very HighC47
F16Best for your GPU
16
6.1 GB
MaximumC50

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Llama 3.2 3B Instruct on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \ --hf-repo "bartowski/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct-GGUF" \ --hf-file "Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct-GGUF-Q5_K_M.gguf" \ -c 4096 -ngl 99

アップグレードオプション

Llama 3.2 3B Instructを快適に動かすハードウェア

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4080 Super 16GB run Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

Yes, RTX 4080 Super 16GB can run Llama 3.2 3B Instruct with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 48.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B Instruct need?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (3B parameters) requires approximately 5.0 GB of memory with Q5_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

The recommended quantization for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is Q5_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Llama 3.2 3B Instruct run at on RTX 4080 Super 16GB?

On RTX 4080 Super 16GB, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct achieves approximately 48.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 4033ms using Q5_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4080 Super 16GB run Llama 3.2 3B Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct on RTX 4080 Super 16GB receives a C grade with 48.0 tok/s and 516K context.

What context window can Llama 3.2 3B Instruct use on RTX 4080 Super 16GB?

On RTX 4080 Super 16GB, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct can safely use up to 516K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 4080 Super 16GBSee all hardware for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
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