Rent a GPU

Can the NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB run Qwen3 8B?

RTX 3080 10GB × Qwen3 8B8K context
YesRuns fully on the GPU
Memory at Q6_K8.5 GB of 10 GB
Weights 6.7 GBKV cache 1.2 GBRuntime 0.6 GB
QuantQ6_KExcellent
Memory8.5 GBof 10 GB usable
Speed~68tokens per second
  1. FP16
  2. Q8_0
  3. Q6_K
  4. Q5_K_M
  5. Q4_K_M
  6. Q3_K_M
  7. Q2_K

Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB can run Qwen3 8B fully in VRAM at Q6_K (excellent), using about 8.5 GB of the 10 GB available, at roughly 68 tokens/second.

Try other context lengths

Run it with Ollama

With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Qwen3 8B:

ollama run qwen3:8b

Ollama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 6.8 GB here). You have room for Q6_K, which is excellent: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.

New to this? Step-by-step setup for the RTX 3080 10GB

Run it in the cloud

No NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB? Run Qwen3 8B in the cloud.

Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.

Rent a GPU on RunPodRent a GPU on Vast.ai

Memory needed by quantization

At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 10 GB the NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB can use.

QuantQualityMemoryFits?Speed
FP16Full quality18.2 GBToo big—
Q8_0Near-lossless10.5 GBToo big—
Q6_KExcellent8.5 GBFits~68 tok/s
Q5_K_MVery good7.6 GBFits~78 tok/s
Q4_K_MGood, most popular6.8 GBFits~92 tok/s
Q3_K_MNoticeably degraded5.8 GBFits~114 tok/s
Q2_KHeavily degraded4.9 GBFits~148 tok/s

GPUs that run Qwen3 8B comfortably

Models that run well on the NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB run Qwen3 8B?

Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB can run Qwen3 8B fully in VRAM at Q6_K (excellent), using about 8.5 GB of the 10 GB available, at roughly 68 tokens/second.

How much VRAM does Qwen3 8B need?

About 6.8 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 18.2 GB at full FP16 precision.

How fast is Qwen3 8B on the NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB?

Roughly 68 tokens per second at Q6_K, estimated from the NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB's 760 GB/s memory bandwidth.