Can Qwen 3 8B run on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB?

YES — Tight Fit

S93Excellent

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 3 8B needs ~9.4 GB VRAM. GTX 1080 Ti 11GB has 11.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~63 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: MediumStack: 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) — 9.4 GB, 62.9 tok/s, Tight fit

9.4 GB required11.0 GB available

85% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

62.9 tok/s

TTFT

3078 ms

Safe context

28K

Memory

9.4 GB / 11.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.1 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsQwen 3 8B on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 62.9 tok/s decode · 3.1s TTFT (warm) · 157 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	S	Runs well	62.9 tok/s	1679 ms	28K
Coding	S	Tight fit	62.9 tok/s	3078 ms	28K
Agentic Coding	S	Runs with offload (needs ~0.2 GB host RAM)	41.0 tok/s	6863 ms	28K
Reasoning	S	Tight fit	62.9 tok/s	3637 ms	28K
RAG	S	Runs with offload (needs ~0.2 GB host RAM)	41.0 tok/s	8579 ms	28K

Quantization options

How Qwen 3 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB (11.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	S90
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	S91
NVFP4	4	4.5 GB	Medium	S92
Q4_K_M	4	4.9 GB	Medium	S93
Q5_K_M	5	5.8 GB	High	S92
Q6_KBest for your GPU	6	6.6 GB	High	S92
Q8_0	8	8.6 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	16.4 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 3 8B on your machine.

Run

ollama run qwen3:8b

Your hardware

More models your GTX 1080 Ti 11GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	55.9 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can GTX 1080 Ti 11GB run Qwen 3 8B?

Yes, GTX 1080 Ti 11GB can run Qwen 3 8B with a S grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 62.9 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 3 8B need?

Qwen 3 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 3 8B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen 3 8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Qwen 3 8B run at on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB?

On GTX 1080 Ti 11GB, Qwen 3 8B achieves approximately 62.9 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3078ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can GTX 1080 Ti 11GB run Qwen 3 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 3 8B on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB receives a S grade with 62.9 tok/s and 28K context.

What context window can Qwen 3 8B use on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB?

On GTX 1080 Ti 11GB, Qwen 3 8B can safely use up to 28K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for GTX 1080 Ti 11GB See all hardware for Qwen 3 8B

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<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/qwen-3-8b-on-gtx-1080-ti-11gb" 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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