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Can the NVIDIA L40S run Code Llama 70B Instruct?

36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, it runs well

Runs well. At Q3_K_M it needs about 38.1 GB of 48.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 19.9 tok/s.

Best quant
Q3_K_M
Generation speed
19.9 tok/s
Prompt processing
956 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
1.1 s
Largest safe context
4K

Best app to run it on the NVIDIA L40S

On Linux

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

  • One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
  • Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.
ollama run codellama:70b-instruct-q3_K_M
  • LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
  • llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

On Windows

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

  • One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
  • Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.
ollama run codellama:70b-instruct-q3_K_M
  • LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
  • llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

Want an agent? Code Llama 70B Instruct supports tool use, so you can pair a llama.cpp or MLX LM server with one of these. Apps that run on this computer come first.

Coding agents

Personal assistants

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download Code Llama 70B Instruct

Recommended for the NVIDIA L40S: Q3_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run codellama:70b-instruct-q3_K_M

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q3_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/TheBloke/CodeLlama-70B-Instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/TheBloke/CodeLlama-70B-Instruct-GGUF:Q3_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Meta, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/meta-llama/CodeLlama-70b-Instruct-hf (opens in a new tab)

Free Hugging Face account needed: request access on the model page, and Meta approves it (usually within minutes to a few hours).

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from Meta. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/meta-llama/codellama (opens in a new tab)

Meta’s official Code Llama repo.

git clone https://github.com/meta-llama/codellama

Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
How capable the model itself is at Q3_K_M, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Runs well
How well it runs on the NVIDIA L40S: speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.16.6 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when everything sits in GPU memory; fewer when part spills to system RAM.25.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.10.6 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.15.0 / 15
Match score67.2 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the NVIDIA L40S

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q2_K 31.9 GB 48.0 GB 25.3 tok/s Runs well 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 38.1 GB 48.0 GB 19.9 tok/s Runs well 36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q4_K_M 46.4 GB 48.0 GB 15.4 tok/s Runs welltight fit 41Fair quality (C) · 41 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 53.3 GB 48.0 GB 5.5 tok/s Slowoffloads to RAM 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 49/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 60.9 GB 48.0 GB 2.9 tok/s Very slowoffloads to RAM 43Fair quality (C) · 43 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 48/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
Q8_0 77.5 GB 48.0 GB — Won't run 44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 5/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
F16 142 GB 48.0 GB — Won't run 44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 5/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 4K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

Quick answers

How much memory does Code Llama 70B Instruct need on the NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

At Q3_K_M it needs about 38.1 GB. The NVIDIA L40S 48GB has 48.0 GB usable.

How fast is Code Llama 70B Instruct on the NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

About 19.9 tok/s at Q3_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Code Llama 70B Instruct should I use on the NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

Q3_K_M. Of the versions that fit, it is the one that runs best; when two run equally well, the check prefers the higher-rated one.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.

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