~/gpu/rtx-3070
nvidia manufacturer

RTX 3070 8GB

8GB ceiling. Sticks to 7B at Q5 or 13B at Q3. VRAM is the bottleneck, not silicon.

VRAM
8GB
Bandwidth
448GB/s
FP16 compute
81TFLOPS
Budget @ ctx 8K
5.1GB

Tuned to this card.

$ ./vrambudget --gpu rtx-3070
$ vrambudget --gpu rtx-3070 --ctx 8192 --conc 1 --safety 15%↗ tweetlive
ampere
RTX 3060 12GB
12GB
↗
ampere
RTX 3070
8GB
↗
ampere
RTX 3080
10GB
↗
ampere
RTX 3080 Ti
12GB
↗
ampere
RTX 3090
24GB
↗
ampere
RTX 3090 Ti
24GB
↗
8GB
64GB
8Ktok
8.0GB
device capacity
0.05GB
0.7% of total
1.2GB
15.0% of total
5.5GB
69% of total
$ budget allocation6.8 / 8.0 GB used
weightskv cacheoverheadsafety
↳ sorted by best fit
fitscomfortably runs on this budget10 models
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
5.1 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
5.1 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
5.5 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
5.5 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
5.0 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
4.8 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
4.3 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
4.0 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
3.4 GB
fits
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
2.5 GB
fits
overneeds a bigger card, more aggressive quant, or model split20 models
Phi-414.7B
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
8.3 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
8.4 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
12 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
14 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
15 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
15 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
17 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
18 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
18 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
19 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
20 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
26 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
40 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
41 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
59 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
66 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
79 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
228 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
377 GB
over
FP16/BF16FP8/INT8Q8_0Q6_KQ5_K_MQ4_K_MQ3_K_MAWQ 4-bitGPTQ 4-bit
377 GB
over

Models that fit on a RTX 3070.

$ grep "fits" models.json | head -12
ModelParamsBest quantWeights / 5.1 GB budgetFit
Qwen 3.5 9B9BQ4_K_M
5.1
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for Qwen 3.5 9B (9B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 9 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 5.06 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
5.06 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 0.49 GB of weights budget left
Gemma 2 9B9BQ4_K_M
5.1
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for Gemma 2 9B (9B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 9 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 5.06 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
5.06 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 0.49 GB of weights budget left
Llama 3.1 8B8BQ4_K_M
4.5
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for Llama 3.1 8B (8B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 8 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.50 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.50 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 1.05 GB of weights budget left
Granite 8B Code8BQ4_K_M
4.5
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for Granite 8B Code (8B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 8 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.50 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.50 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 1.05 GB of weights budget left
Mistral 7B v0.37.2BQ5_K_M
5.0
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q5_K_M for Mistral 7B v0.3 (7.2B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 7.2 × 5.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.95 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.95 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 0.60 GB of weights budget left
Qwen 2.5 7B7BQ5_K_M
4.8
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q5_K_M for Qwen 2.5 7B (7B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 7 × 5.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.81 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.81 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 0.74 GB of weights budget left
Gemma 4 E4B4BQ8_0
4.3
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q8_0 for Gemma 4 E4B (4B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 4 × 8.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.25 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.25 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 1.30 GB of weights budget left
Phi-4 Mini3.8BQ8_0
4.0
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q8_0 for Phi-4 Mini (3.8B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 3.8 × 8.5 ÷ 8
        = 4.04 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
4.04 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 1.51 GB of weights budget left
Llama 3.2 3B3.21BQ8_0
3.4
fits
▸ show the math
// weights Q8_0 for Llama 3.2 3B (3.21B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 3.21 × 8.5 ÷ 8
        = 3.41 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
3.41 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 2.14 GB of weights budget left
Llama 3.2 1B1.23BFP16/BF16
2.5
fits
▸ show the math
// weights FP16/BF16 for Llama 3.2 1B (1.23B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 1.23 × 16 ÷ 8
        = 2.46 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
2.46 ≤ 5.55  → FITS
headroom  = 3.09 GB of weights budget left
Phi-414.7BQ4_K_M
8.3
over
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for Phi-4 (14.7B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 14.7 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 8.27 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
8.27 > 5.55  → OVER
overflow  = 2.72 GB over budget
StarCoder2 15B15BQ4_K_M
8.4
over
▸ show the math
// weights Q4_K_M for StarCoder2 15B (15B params)
weights = params × bits ÷ 8
        = 15 × 4.5 ÷ 8
        = 8.44 GB

// budget on RTX 3070 (8GB) at ctx 8K, conc 1, 15% safety
kv_cache  = 0.05 GB    (1× at ctx 8K)
overhead  = 1.20 GB    (runtime, cuda, allocator)
safety    = 1.20 GB    (15% of 8GB)
budget    = vram − safety − kv − overhead
          = 8 − 1.20 − 0.05 − 1.20
          = 5.55 GB

// fit decision
8.44 > 5.55  → OVER
overflow  = 2.89 GB over budget

Compare to…

$ ./vrambudget --compare

Discussion.

$ gh discussion list

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