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Can the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 run Llama 3.1 70B Instruct?

58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 49/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, but slowly (heavy RAM offload)

Slow (heavy RAM offload). At Q3_K_M it needs about 39.1 GB of 24.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 3.1 tok/s.

Best quant
Q3_K_M
Generation speed
3.1 tok/s
Prompt processing
252 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
4.1 s
Largest safe context
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Best app to run it on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

On Windows

LM Studio

Desktop app · runs on llama.cpp, MLX

  • Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
  • Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Open Llama 3.1 70B Instruct in LM Studio

  • Ollama Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
  • llama.cpp Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.

On Linux

LM Studio

Desktop app · runs on llama.cpp, MLX

  • Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
  • Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Open Llama 3.1 70B Instruct in LM Studio

  • Ollama Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
  • llama.cpp Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.

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 Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Recommended for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: 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 llama3.1:70b-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/bartowski/Meta-Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/bartowski/Meta-Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct-GGUF:Q3_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/meta-llama/Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct (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/llama-models (opens in a new tab)

Meta’s official Llama repo: model cards, prompt formats and download tools.

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

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

How it’s rated

Quality 58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 49/100 (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 Slowheavy RAM offload
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.26.5 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when everything sits in GPU memory; fewer when part spills to system RAM.4.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.4.2 / 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 score49.7 / 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 32.7 GB 24.0 GB 5.3 tok/s Slowheavy RAM offload 49Fair quality (C) · 49 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 46/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 39.1 GB 24.0 GB 3.1 tok/s Slowheavy RAM offload 58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_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)
Q4_K_M 47.6 GB 24.0 GB — Won't run 66Good quality (B) · 66 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 8/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 54.6 GB 24.0 GB — Won't run 67Good quality (B) · 67 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 9/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 62.4 GB 24.0 GB — Won't run 69Good quality (B) · 69 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 9/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 79.3 GB 24.0 GB — Won't run 70Great quality (A) · 70 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 9/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
F16 146 GB 24.0 GB — Won't run 70Great quality (A) · 70 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 9/100 (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

Quick answers

How much memory does Llama 3.1 70B Instruct need on the RTX 3090 24GB?

At Q3_K_M it needs about 39.1 GB. The RTX 3090 24GB has 24.0 GB usable.

How fast is Llama 3.1 70B Instruct on the RTX 3090 24GB?

About 3.1 tok/s at Q3_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Llama 3.1 70B Instruct should I use on the RTX 3090 24GB?

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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