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Can the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition run StarCoder 15B?

26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, it runs great

Runs great. At Q8_0 it needs about 22.3 GB of 96.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 70.8 tok/s.

Best quant
Q8_0
Generation speed
70.8 tok/s
Prompt processing
5,006 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
0.3 s
Largest safe context
8K

Best app to run it on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition

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 starcoder:15b-q8_0
  • 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 starcoder:15b-q8_0
  • vLLM The full model fits in GPU memory at 8-bit, so it can batch many requests: best for serving a team or an app.
  • LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Want an agent? StarCoder 15B 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 StarCoder 15B

Recommended for the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition: Q8_0. 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 starcoder:15b-q8_0

Quantized files · GGUF

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

huggingface.co/mradermacher/starcoder-i1-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/mradermacher/starcoder-i1-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/bigcode/starcoder (opens in a new tab)

Free Hugging Face account needed: accept the license on the model page and the download starts right away.

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

How it’s rated

Quality 26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
How capable the model itself is at Q8_0, 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 RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition: 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.11.7 / 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.15.0 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.5.4 / 15
Match score57.1 / 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 RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q2_K 11.9 GB 96.0 GB 228 tok/s Runs great 18Basic quality (D) · 18 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 13.3 GB 96.0 GB 180 tok/s Runs great 21Basic quality (D) · 21 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q4_K_M 15.2 GB 96.0 GB 139 tok/s Runs great 24Basic quality (D) · 24 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 16.8 GB 96.0 GB 115 tok/s Runs great 25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 18.5 GB 96.0 GB 96.5 tok/s Runs great 25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 56/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 22.3 GB 96.0 GB 70.8 tok/s Runs great 26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
F16 37.2 GB 96.0 GB 32.6 tok/s Runs great 26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 59/100 (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 StarCoder 15B need on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition 96GB?

At Q8_0 it needs about 22.3 GB. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition 96GB has 96.0 GB usable.

How fast is StarCoder 15B on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition 96GB?

About 70.8 tok/s at Q8_0, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of StarCoder 15B should I use on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition 96GB?

Q8_0. 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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