Can StarCoder 7B run on RTX A4000 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

A76Great

Estimated from fit model

StarCoder 7B needs ~14.4 GB VRAM. RTX A4000 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~73 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: 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) — 14.4 GB, 73.4 tok/s, Tight fit

14.4 GB required16.0 GB available

90% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

73.4 tok/s

TTFT

2636 ms

Safe context

Memory

14.4 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB

KV Cache7.3 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStarCoder 7B on RTX A4000 16GB
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: 73.4 tok/s decode · 2.6s TTFT (warm) · 184 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	A	Runs well	73.4 tok/s	1438 ms	8K
Coding	A	Tight fit	73.4 tok/s	2636 ms	8K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	29.0 tok/s	9727 ms	8K
Reasoning	A	Tight fit	73.4 tok/s	3115 ms	8K
RAG	F	Too heavy	29.0 tok/s	12159 ms	8K

Inference speed

StarCoder 7B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for StarCoder 7B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~98 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 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Tight
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	98.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	87.8	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	87.8	Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	56.2	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	51.5	Fits
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	48.0	Heavy offload
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	45.3	Fits
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	30.2	Heavy offload
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	11.4	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_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 StarCoder 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX A4000 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	2.7 GB	Low	A70
Q3_K_S	3	3.4 GB	Low	A71
NVFP4	4	3.9 GB	Medium	A71
Q4_K_M	4	4.3 GB	Medium	A71
Q5_K_M	5	5.0 GB	High	A72
Q6_K	6	5.7 GB	High	A73
Q8_0Best for your GPU	8	7.5 GB	Very High	A75
F16	16	14.3 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

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

Run

lms load starcoder-7b && lms server start

Your hardware

More models your RTX A4000 16GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	61.4 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	S	39.7 tok/s
Qwen 3 8B	8B	S	69.1 tok/s
Phi-4-reasoning-plus 14B	14.7B	S	37.6 tok/s
GPT-OSS 20B	21B	A	35 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX A4000 16GB run StarCoder 7B?

Yes, RTX A4000 16GB can run StarCoder 7B with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 73.4 tok/s.

How much VRAM does StarCoder 7B need?

StarCoder 7B (7B parameters) requires approximately 14.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for StarCoder 7B?

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

What speed will StarCoder 7B run at on RTX A4000 16GB?

On RTX A4000 16GB, StarCoder 7B achieves approximately 73.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2636ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX A4000 16GB run StarCoder 7B for coding?

For coding workloads, StarCoder 7B on RTX A4000 16GB receives a A grade with 73.4 tok/s and 8K context.

What context window can StarCoder 7B use on RTX A4000 16GB?

On RTX A4000 16GB, StarCoder 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 A4000 16GB See all hardware for StarCoder 7B

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