Qwen3 8B hardware requirements
About the model
- Parameters
- 8.2B
- Attention
- Full attention
- Max context
- 32,768 tokens
- Released
- 2025-04-29
- Model card
- Qwen3 8B on Hugging Face
GGUF files
| Quant | File size | Quality | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 3.28 GB | Heavy loss | Community GGUF · unsloth |
| IQ4_XS | 4.58 GB | Good balance | Community GGUF · unsloth |
| Q4_K_Mbaseline | 5.03 GB | Good balance | Community GGUF · unsloth |
| Q8_0 | 8.71 GB | Near-lossless | Community GGUF · unsloth |
Some repositories publish only Unsloth Dynamic (UD) variants; sizes are those of the file you would download.
Memory needed by quant and context
| Quant | 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 4.4 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 8.9 |
| IQ4_XS | 5.7 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 10.2 |
| Q4_K_M | 6.2 | 6.8 | 8.1 | 10.7 |
| Q8_0 | 9.9 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 14.3 |
Which GPUs can run Qwen3 8B?
How to read the verdicts
- Runs great
- Fully on the GPU at 20 tok/s or more
- Runs well
- Fully on the GPU at 8–20 tok/s; MoE experts in system RAM at 20 tok/s or more; or at least 90% on the GPU at 8 tok/s or more
- Runs slowly
- 2–8 tok/s; CPU-only; less than 90% on the GPU; or MoE experts in system RAM below 20 tok/s
- Won't run
- Does not fit, or under 2 tok/s
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Hardware | Verdict | Speed | Quant | Memory | Runs as | Context | Notes | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5090 | Runs great | est. 201.1 tok/s177.0–225.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 32.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $4,200 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| Radeon RX 7900 XTX | Runs great | est. 120.0 tok/s105.6–134.4calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 24.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $999 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | Runs great | est. 113.1 tok/s99.5–126.7calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 24.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $1,999 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4090 | Runs great | est. 113.1 tok/s99.5–126.7calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 24.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $2,755 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 5080 | Runs great | est. 107.7 tok/s94.8–120.7calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $1,256 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | Runs great | est. 105.0 tok/s92.4–117.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 24.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $1,050 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 3080 12GB | Runs great | est. 102.3 tok/s90.1–114.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $799 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 5070 Ti | Runs great | est. 100.5 tok/s88.5–112.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $949 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop | Runs great | est. 100.5 tok/s88.5–112.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop | Runs great | est. 100.5 tok/s88.5–112.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 24.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | — |
| Radeon RX 7900 XT | Runs great | est. 100.0 tok/s88.0–112.0calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 20.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $899 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 3080 10GB | Runs great | est. 85.3 tok/s75.1–95.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 10.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 16k | — | $699 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4080 Super | Runs great | est. 82.6 tok/s72.7–92.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $999 launch MSRP |
| Radeon RX 9070 | Runs great | est. 80.7 tok/s71.0–90.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $639 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| Radeon RX 9070 XT | Runs great | est. 80.7 tok/s71.0–90.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $689 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 4080 | Runs great | est. 80.5 tok/s70.8–90.1calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $1,199 launch MSRP |
| Radeon RX 7800 XT | Runs great | est. 78.0 tok/s68.7–87.4calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $499 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super | Runs great | est. 75.4 tok/s66.4–84.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $799 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 5070 | Runs great | est. 75.4 tok/s66.4–84.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $629 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop | Runs great | est. 75.4 tok/s66.4–84.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | Runs great | est. 69.1 tok/s60.8–77.4calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 11.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 16k | — | $999 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop | Runs great | est. 64.6 tok/s56.9–72.4calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | — |
| Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB | Runs great | est. 59.1 tok/s47.2–70.9calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 33.6 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| Apple M3 Ultra · 96 GB | Runs great | est. 57.8 tok/s46.2–69.3calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 67.2 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 4070 | Runs great | est. 56.6 tok/s49.8–63.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $599 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Super | Runs great | est. 56.6 tok/s49.8–63.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $599 launch MSRP |
| Apple M2 Ultra · 64 GB | Runs great | est. 56.4 tok/s45.1–67.7calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 44.8 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | Runs great | est. 54.3 tok/s38.0–70.6theoretical estimate ±30% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 11.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 16k | — | $699 launch MSRP |
| Apple M4 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB | Runs great | est. 52.5 tok/s42.0–63.0calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 33.6 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 3070 | Runs great | est. 50.3 tok/s44.2–56.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $499 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 5060 | Runs great | est. 50.3 tok/s44.2–56.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $339 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | Runs great | est. 50.3 tok/s44.2–56.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $569 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB | Runs great | est. 50.3 tok/s44.2–56.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $429 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop | Runs great | est. 48.5 tok/s42.7–54.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | — |
| Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB | Runs great | est. 44.2 tok/s35.4–53.1calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 25.2 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| Intel Arc B580 | Runs great | est. 43.1 tok/s34.5–51.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $290 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | Runs great | est. 40.4 tok/s35.6–45.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 12.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $250 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB | Runs great | est. 40.3 tok/s35.4–45.1calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $449 street (as of 2026-08-09) |
| Apple M4 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB | Runs great | est. 39.4 tok/s31.5–47.3calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 25.2 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB | Runs great | est. 32.3 tok/s28.4–36.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 16.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 32k | — | $499 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB | Runs great | est. 32.3 tok/s28.4–36.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $399 launch MSRP |
| GeForce RTX 4060 | Runs great | est. 30.5 tok/s26.9–34.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $299 launch MSRP |
| Apple M5 Pro · 24 GB | Runs great | est. 29.5 tok/s23.6–35.4calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 16.8 GB | Unified memory | up to 16k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop | Runs great | est. 28.7 tok/s25.3–32.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop | Runs great | est. 28.7 tok/s25.3–32.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | — |
| Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) · 32 GB | Runs great | est. 26.7 tok/s21.3–32.0calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 22.4 GB | Unified memory | up to 16k | — | $1,999 launch MSRP |
| Apple M4 Pro · 24 GB | Runs great | est. 26.3 tok/s21.0–31.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 16.8 GB | Unified memory | up to 16k | — | — |
| GeForce RTX 3050 8GB | Runs great | est. 25.1 tok/s22.1–28.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Q4_K_M | 7.4 / 8.0 GB | Full GPU | up to 8k | — | $249 launch MSRP |
| NVIDIA DGX Spark · 128 GB | Runs well | est. 17.5 tok/s14.0–21.0calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 89.6 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k |
| $3,999 launch MSRP |
| Apple M5 · 16 GB | Runs well | est. 14.8 tok/s11.8–17.7calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 11.2 GB | Unified memory | up to 32k |
| — |
| Apple M4 · 16 GB | Runs well | est. 11.5 tok/s9.2–13.9calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.8 / 11.2 GB | Unified memory | up to 16k | — | — |
| DDR5-6000 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB | Runs slowly | est. 7.7 tok/s6.2–9.2calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.2 GB RAM | CPU only | up to 32k | — | — |
| DDR5-5600 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB | Runs slowly | est. 7.2 tok/s5.7–8.6calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.2 GB RAM | CPU only | up to 32k | — | — |
| DDR4-3200 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB | Runs slowly | est. 4.1 tok/s3.3–4.9calibrated estimate ±20% | Q4_K_M | 6.2 GB RAM | CPU only | up to 32k | — | — |
Cheapest GPUs that run it
- Runs greatGeForce RTX 3060 12GB$250 street (as of 2026-08-09), est. 40.4 tok/s (35.6–45.2, calibrated estimate ±12%).
Measured results for Qwen3 8B
Public benchmarks we calibrate against. Their conditions (context, backend, flags) can differ from the estimates above.
| Hardware | Quant | Backend | Context | Prompt (tok/s) | Generation (tok/s) | Flags | Source | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5090 | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 16k | — | 145.3 | — | hardware-corner.net | 2026-08-09 |
| GeForce RTX 4090 | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 16k | — | 104.3 | — | hardware-corner.net | 2026-08-09 |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 16k | — | 87.5 | — | hardware-corner.net | 2026-08-09 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 16k | — | 42.0 | — | hardware-corner.net | 2026-08-09 |
Frequently asked questions
How much VRAM does Qwen3 8B need?
At Q4_K_M the weights are 5.03 GB; with 8k context the total is about 6.8 GB (KV cache 1.2 GB, compute buffer 0.6 GB). The smallest tracked file (Q2_K (heavy quality loss)) needs about 5.1 GB.
What is the cheapest GPU that runs Qwen3 8B well?
Cheapest that runs it great: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at $250 (street price as of 2026-08-09), est. 40.4 tok/s (35.6–45.2, calibrated estimate ±12%).
Can Qwen3 8B run on an 8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB GPU?
At Q4_K_M with 8k context: GeForce RTX 4060 — Runs great, est. 30.5 tok/s (26.9–34.2, calibrated estimate ±12%); GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB — Runs great, est. 50.3 tok/s (44.2–56.3, calibrated estimate ±12%); GeForce RTX 3090 — Runs great, est. 105.0 tok/s (92.4–117.6, calibrated estimate ±12%).
Speeds are estimates from memory bandwidth, calibrated against public benchmarks, and each one comes with an error band and a confidence label. Real results vary with drivers, backend, context length and thermals.