NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated July 12, 2026

A popular used GPU at $150–200. 8 GB VRAM is tight but sufficient for 7–8B models at Q4. Good bandwidth for the price. Upgrade path: RTX 3090 for 3× the VRAM.

Technical Specifications

VRAM8 GB
Memory Bandwidth448 GB/s
TDP220 W
ArchitectureAmpere GA104
Release Year2020
MSRP at Launch$499
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)32–61 tok/s (estimated)
Inference Speed (Llama 3.3 70B Q4_K_M)Does not fit — needs ~44 GB of 8 GB usable
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB
Launch MSRP: $499
2026 prices are volatile — check the current listing.
Check price on Amazon

LLMs Compatible with 8 GB VRAM

All models below run comfortably in 8 GB VRAM with Q4_K_M quantization.

Llama 3.1 FamilyLlama 3.1 8B Instruct · 6 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.1
Llama 3.2 FamilyLlama 3.2 11B Vision Instruct · 7 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · llama-3-2
Qwen 2.5 FamilyQwen 2.5 7B Instruct · 5 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen2.5:7b
Gemma 2 FamilyGemma 2 9B IT · 6 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run gemma2
Phi-4 MiniPhi-4 Mini (3.8B) · 3 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run phi4-mini
SmolLM2SmolLM2 1.7B Instruct · 2 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run smollm2:1.7b

Best Use Cases

Quick Start with Ollama

Install Ollama then run the recommended model for this GPU:

ollama run llama3.1:8b

FAQ

Can the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 run local LLMs?

Yes — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has 8 GB VRAM and runs A popular used GPU at $150–200. 8 GB VRAM is tight but sufficient for 7–8B models at Q4. Good bandwidth for the price. U

How fast is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 for AI inference?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is estimated to run Llama 3.1 8B at 32–61 tok/s with Q4_K_M quantization. Llama 3.3 70B does not fit: it needs about 44 GB against 8 GB usable. These are modelled estimates, not measurements — see /en/methodology.

What LLMs can I run on 8 GB VRAM?

With 8 GB you can run: Llama 3.1 Family, Llama 3.2 Family, Qwen 2.5 Family, Gemma 2 Family, Phi-4 Mini. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama3.1:8b.

Can I Run It? — NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

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