Can Granite 4.1 3B run on GTX 1070 8GB?

YES — Runs Great

A70Great

Estimated from fit model

Granite 4.1 3B needs ~5.1 GB VRAM. GTX 1070 8GB has 8.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~42 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: 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) — 5.1 GB, 42.0 tok/s, Runs well

5.1 GB required8.0 GB available

64% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

42.0 tok/s

TTFT

4610 ms

Safe context

55K

Memory

5.1 GB / 8.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.8 GB

KV Cache1.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGranite 4.1 3B on GTX 1070 8GB
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: 42.0 tok/s decode · 4.6s TTFT (warm) · 105 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	B	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	2514 ms	55K
Coding	A	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	4610 ms	55K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	6705 ms	55K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	5448 ms	55K
RAG	A	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	8381 ms	55K

Inference speed

Granite 4.1 3B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Granite 4.1 3B at Q4_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 / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	57.0	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	48.0	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	48.0	Fits
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	42.0	Fits

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 Granite 4.1 3B (3B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1070 8GB (8.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	1.2 GB	Low	B67
Q3_K_S	3	1.5 GB	Low	B68
NVFP4	4	1.7 GB	Medium	B68
Q4_K_M	4	1.8 GB	Medium	B68
Q5_K_M	5	2.2 GB	High	B69
Q6_K	6	2.5 GB	High	B70
Q8_0Best for your GPU	8	3.2 GB	Very High	A71
F16	16	6.1 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Granite 4.1 3B on your machine.

Run

ollama run granite4.1:3b

Your hardware

More models your GTX 1070 8GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen 3.5 4B	4B	S	56 tok/s
Qwen 3 8B	8B	A	18.4 tok/s
Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B	3.8B	S	53.2 tok/s
Nemotron Nano 8B	8B	A	19.5 tok/s
InternVL2 8B	8B	A	19.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can GTX 1070 8GB run Granite 4.1 3B?

Yes, GTX 1070 8GB can run Granite 4.1 3B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 42.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Granite 4.1 3B need?

Granite 4.1 3B (3B parameters) requires approximately 5.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Granite 4.1 3B?

The recommended quantization for Granite 4.1 3B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Granite 4.1 3B run at on GTX 1070 8GB?

On GTX 1070 8GB, Granite 4.1 3B achieves approximately 42.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 4610ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can GTX 1070 8GB run Granite 4.1 3B for coding?

For coding workloads, Granite 4.1 3B on GTX 1070 8GB receives a A grade with 42.0 tok/s and 55K context.

What context window can Granite 4.1 3B use on GTX 1070 8GB?

On GTX 1070 8GB, Granite 4.1 3B can safely use up to 55K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for GTX 1070 8GB See all hardware for Granite 4.1 3B

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