Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 runs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct excellently at 95 tok/s at Q8_0. This is a strong pairing.
Model Size
8.03B
Device VRAM
24 GB
Bandwidth
1008 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows Llama 3.1 8B Instruct performance at a different quality level on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q8_0 | 95 tok/s | 65ms | ✓ Yes | Excellent | benchmarked |
Notes
Q8_0
The 4090 makes 8B models feel instant. 1008 GB/s bandwidth is overkill for this model size.
With nomic-embed running concurrently, speed drops ~5% to ~90 tok/s. Total VRAM: 9.3GB, leaving 14.7GB free.
About Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (8.03B) is a chat, coding, ai coding, reasoning, multi-purpose model. Best-in-class 8B model. Strong general capabilities with excellent coding support. The go-to small model for local inference — fast, accurate, and well-supported across all inference engines.
View all Llama 3.1 8B Instruct hardware options →About NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has 24 GB at 1008 GB/s. Street price: $1,799.
See all models NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 can run →Builds with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Source: llama.cpp benchmark thread (2026-01-15)
Data last updated: 2026-03-01