Granite Code 20B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Can the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 run Granite Code 20B Instruct?

Yes, it runs great

Runs great. At Q6_K it needs about 18.5 GB of 24.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 39.7 tok/s.

Best quant: Q6_K
Generation speed: 39.7 tok/s
Prompt processing: 1,277 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 0.8 s
Largest safe context: 8K

Best app to run it on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

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 granite-code:20b-instruct-8k-q6_K

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

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 granite-code:20b-instruct-8k-q6_K

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? Granite Code 20B 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 Granite Code 20B Instruct

Recommended for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: Q6_K. 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 granite-code:20b-instruct-8k-q6_K

Quantized files · GGUF

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

huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-20b-code-instruct-8k-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/ibm-granite/granite-20b-code-instruct-8k-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-20b-code-instruct-8k (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 2 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q6_K, 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 great: How well it runs on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: 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.	16.0 / 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.	14.9 / 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 score	71.0 / 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 GeForce RTX 3090

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	10.0 GB	24.0 GB	94.0 tok/s	Runs great	25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`Q3_K_M`	11.9 GB	24.0 GB	74.0 tok/s	Runs great	30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`Q4_K_M`	14.3 GB	24.0 GB	57.2 tok/s	Runs great	34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	16.3 GB	24.0 GB	47.3 tok/s	Runs great	34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`Q6_K`	18.5 GB	24.0 GB	39.7 tok/s	Runs great	35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`Q8_0`	23.3 GB	24.0 GB	29.1 tok/s	Runs welltight fit	36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`F16`	42.2 GB	24.0 GB	1.9 tok/s	Very slowheavy RAM offload	36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 38/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

36Basic quality (D) · 36 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Q8_0 · 55.8 tok/s · Runs great
35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Q6_K · 42.8 tok/s · Runs great
34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Q5_K_M · 41.8 tok/s · Runs great
34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Q5_K_M · 45.3 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Q5_K_M · 48.5 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
34Basic quality (D) · 34 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Q4_K_M · 41.1 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)

Quick answers

How much memory does Granite Code 20B Instruct need on the RTX 3090 24GB?

At Q6_K it needs about 18.5 GB. The RTX 3090 24GB has 24.0 GB usable.

How fast is Granite Code 20B Instruct on the RTX 3090 24GB?

About 39.7 tok/s at Q6_K, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Granite Code 20B Instruct should I use on the RTX 3090 24GB?

Q6_K. 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.