Can StarCoder2 15B run on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB?

YES — Runs Great

B56Good

Estimated from fit model

StarCoder2 15B needs ~15.6 GB VRAM. RTX 3090 Ti 24GB has 24.0 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~68 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: 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

Q5_K_M (High quality) — 15.6 GB, 73.8 tok/s, Runs well

15.6 GB required24.0 GB available

65% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

73.8 tok/s

TTFT

2624 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

15.6 GB / 24.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights10.8 GB

KV Cache1.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom2.4 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStarCoder2 15B on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB
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: 73.8 tok/s decode · 2.6s TTFT (warm) · 185 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	B	Runs well	73.8 tok/s	1431 ms	16K
Coding	B	Runs well	67.6 tok/s	2864 ms	16K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	73.8 tok/s	3816 ms	16K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	73.8 tok/s	3101 ms	16K
RAG	B	Runs well	73.8 tok/s	4770 ms	16K

Quantization options

How StarCoder2 15B (15B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB (24.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.9 GB	Low	C47
Q3_K_S	3	7.4 GB	Low	C48
NVFP4	4	8.4 GB	Medium	C49
Q4_K_M	4	9.2 GB	Medium	C49
Q5_K_M	5	10.8 GB	High	C51
Q6_K	6	12.3 GB	High	C52
Q8_0Best for your GPU	8	16.1 GB	Very High	C51
F16	16	30.7 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run StarCoder2 15B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "bigcode/starcoder2-15b" \
  --hf-file "starcoder2-15b-Q5_K_M.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3090 Ti 24GB run StarCoder2 15B?

Yes, RTX 3090 Ti 24GB can run StarCoder2 15B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 67.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does StarCoder2 15B need?

StarCoder2 15B (15B parameters) requires approximately 15.6 GB of memory with Q5_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for StarCoder2 15B?

The recommended quantization for StarCoder2 15B is Q5_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will StarCoder2 15B run at on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB?

On RTX 3090 Ti 24GB, StarCoder2 15B achieves approximately 67.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2864ms using Q5_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3090 Ti 24GB run StarCoder2 15B for coding?

For coding workloads, StarCoder2 15B on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB receives a B grade with 67.6 tok/s and 16K context.

What context window can StarCoder2 15B use on RTX 3090 Ti 24GB?

On RTX 3090 Ti 24GB, StarCoder2 15B can safely use up to 16K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 16K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 3090 Ti 24GB See all hardware for StarCoder2 15B

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