Best AI Models for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB)

Runs 7–9B models well; 14B doesn't fit in 8 GB.

8 GB GDDR6448 GB/s41 TFLOPS FP16220 WAmpere 2020

What LLMs can the RTX 3070 run?

#	Model	Speed	Quant · VRAM
1	Qwen3.5 9BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB · 45.8 t/s	45.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
2	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 89.3 t/s	89.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
3	Gemma 2 9B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 7.3 GB · 47.7 t/s	47.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 7.3 GB
4	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 103 t/s	103 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
5	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 221 t/s	221 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB

#	Model	Speed	Reasoning Score	Quant · VRAM
1	Qwen3.5 9BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB · 45.8 t/s	45.8 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
2	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 103 t/s	103 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
3	Qwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba Q4_K_M · 5.8 GB · 58.4 t/s	58.4 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 5.8 GB
4	Gemma 2 9B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 7.3 GB · 47.7 t/s	47.7 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 7.3 GB
5	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 221 t/s	221 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · VRAM
1	Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 89.3 t/s	89.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
2	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB · 45.8 t/s	45.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
3	Gemma 4 E4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.6 GB · 54.7 t/s	54.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.6 GB
4	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 221 t/s	221 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB
5	MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 153 t/s	153 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB

#	Model	Speed ↓	Quant · VRAM
1	Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 89.3 t/s	89.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
2	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 221 t/s	221 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB
3	Gemma 4 E4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.6 GB · 54.7 t/s	54.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.6 GB
4	MiMo V2.6 Distill Qwen 9BXiaomi Q4_K_M · 6.5 GB · 46.9 t/s	46.9 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.5 GB
5	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB · 45.8 t/s	45.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · VRAM
1	Qwen3.5 9BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB · 45.8 t/s	45.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
2	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 89.3 t/s	89.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
3	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 103 t/s	103 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
4	MiMo V2.6 Distill Qwen 9BXiaomi Q4_K_M · 6.5 GB · 46.9 t/s	46.9 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.5 GB
5	LFM3 Omni 2BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB · 171 t/s	171 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB

See all 216 models on the RTX 3070 →Best quant that fits · speeds estimated on this card

About the RTX 3070

The RTX 3070 is one of the fastest 8 GB cards: it runs 7–9B models well. It is power-hungry for its speed, and at its $499 MSRP it gave among the best speed per dollar of the cards compared. Ampere generation, released 2020.

Speed in 8 GB#2448 GB/s

Per watt#70.21 tok/s per W on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)

Per dollar#29.2 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)

GenerationAmperereleased 2020

RTX 3070 strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Runs 7–9B models: Qwen3.5 9B at 45.8 tok/s in 6.6 GB

Weaknesses

14B models don't fit: Qwen3 14B needs 11.9 GB at Q4 vs 8 GB here
Little room for context: Qwen3.5 9B uses 6.6 of 8 GB, 1.4 GB left
No FP8 or NVFP4: Ampere predates both; use GGUF, AWQ or GPTQ builds

Speed per dollar and per watt

NewUsed

On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params) at Q4_K_M. New prices are compared with new, used with used. The last two columns are the speed you get per $100 of price and per 100 W of board power; higher is better. The RTX 3070 has no current price, so it is shown at its MSRP.

Card	New price	tok/s	tok/s per $100	tok/s per 100 W
RTX 50608 GBBest new value	about $460	45.8	10.0	31.6
RTX 30708 GB	about $499	45.8	9.2	20.8
RTX 507012 GB	about $840	68.7	8.2	27.5
RTX 40608 GB	about $520	27.8	5.3	24.2

Card	Used price	tok/s	tok/s per $100	tok/s per 100 W
RTX 50608 GBBest used value	about $388	45.8	11.8	31.6
RTX 3060 12GB12 GB	about $329	36.8	11.2	21.6
RTX 507012 GB	about $736	68.7	9.3	27.5
RTX 407012 GB	about $575	51.5	9.0	25.8
RTX 40608 GB	about $335	27.8	8.3	24.2
RTX 4060 Ti 8GB8 GB	about $362	29.4	8.1	18.4
RTX 4070 SUPER12 GB	about $675	51.5	7.6	23.4
RTX 4070 Ti12 GB	about $722	51.5	7.1	18.1

Cost per token: the RTX 3070 against 8–12 GB cards

On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params, Q4_K_M, 4K context). Speed, cost per token and power per token depend on the model.

8 GB12 GBthis cardat MSRP

Cost per 1M output tokenson Qwen3.5 9B · card over 3 years + power

$0.89

Card, MSRP: $0.69
Power: $0.20

3-year cost of ownership$644

Or rent in the cloud$0.13/hr

Renting costs as much as buying after ≈3,700 hours (≈2.5 years at 4 h a day).

Include card price

Power$/kWhUseh/dayKeepyears

Each dot is a card; hover or tap it for its numbers, click to open it. Cards without a price for the chosen basis are left out. How we calculate cost per token

Similar GPUs

Cards people weigh against the RTX 3070, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.

4 GB more and 12% fasterRTX 4070NVIDIA · 12 GB · Ada Lovelace

▲ 12% speed▲ 4 GB$599rent $0.14/hr

4 GB more and 50% fasterRTX 5070NVIDIA · 12 GB · Blackwell

▲ 50% speed▲ 4 GB$840rent $0.17/hr

4 GB more, but slowerRTX 3060 12GBNVIDIA · 12 GB · Ampere

▼ 20% speed▲ 4 GB$329rent $0.06/hr

12% slower, same 8 GBA750Intel · 8 GB · Alchemist

▼ 12% speedsame 8 GB$289

8 GB more and 50% fasterRTX 4070 Ti SUPERNVIDIA · 16 GB · Ada Lovelace

▲ 50% speed▲ 8 GB$799rent $0.20/hr

8 GB more and 60% fasterRTX 4080NVIDIA · 16 GB · Ada Lovelace

▲ 60% speed▲ 8 GB$1,199rent $0.27/hr

RTX 3070 tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (448 GB/s). Grey rows need more than 8 GB.

9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
45.8tok/s
14BQwen3 14B · not at 4-bit
needs 11.9 GB
27–31BQwen3.8 27B · not at 4-bit
needs 17.9 GB
35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · not at 4-bit
needs 22.0 GB
70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bit
needs 51.3 GB
120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bit
needs 70.8 GB

Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate

All 216 models on the RTX 3070

Featured only

Best quant that fits, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works

LLM models compatible with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
Model	Quant	VRAM	Speed	Context	Fit
ZAYA1 VL 8B9.7BVision Q4_K_M·266.1 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.5 GB93%	266.1 t/s	33K	B62, Decent
LFM2.5 2.6B2.7BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·142.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	2.3 GB29%	142.7 t/s	131K	S96, Runs great
SenseNova Loop 9B Preview9.7BVisionChatFunctions Q4_0·53.9 t/s	Q4_0	7.3 GB91%	53.9 t/s	262K	A65, Runs well
SmolVLM2 500M Video Instruct507MVision Q4_K_M·422.0 t/s	Q4_K_M	0.9 GB12%	422.0 t/s	8K	S100, Runs great
LFM2.5 230M230MChatFunctions Q4_K_M·582.4 t/s	Q4_K_M	0.6 GB8%	582.4 t/s	128K	S100, Runs great
Chandra Ocr 25.3BVisionFunctions Q4_K_M·79.8 t/s	Q4_K_M	3.8 GB48%	79.8 t/s	262K	S88, Runs great
MiniCPM5 1B1.1BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·294.1 t/s	Q4_K_M	1.3 GB16%	294.1 t/s	131K	S100, Runs great
InternVL3 5 1B1.1BVision Q4_K_M·416.0 t/s	Q4_K_M	2.2 GB27%	416.0 t/s	—	S100, Runs great
Qwen3 0.6B752MChatFunctions Q4_K_M·334.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	1.7 GB21%	334.7 t/s	41K	S100, Runs great
DeepSeek OCR3.3BVision Q4_K_M·284.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	2.8 GB35%	284.6 t/s	8K	S100, Runs great
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking12.1BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·146.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.8 GB97%	146.6 t/s	131K	B62, Decent
Unlimited OCR 23.3BVision Q4_K_M·283.5 t/s	Q4_K_M	3.3 GB41%	283.5 t/s	131K	S100, Runs great
Phi Mini MoE Instruct7.6BChat Q4_K_M·138.2 t/s	Q4_K_M	5.4 GB68%	138.2 t/s	4K	S96, Runs great
MiniCPM V 44.1BVision Q4_K_M·104.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	3.1 GB38%	104.7 t/s	33K	S92, Runs great
InternVL3 1B938MVision Q4_K_M·469.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	2.0 GB25%	469.7 t/s	—	S100, Runs great

RTX 3070 specs, power and PSU

Specs

Architecture: Ampere
VRAM: 8 GB GDDR6
Memory bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s
FP16 (dense): 40.60 TFLOPS
CUDA cores: 5,888
Tensor cores: 184
Compute capability: 8.6
TDP: 220 W
Released: 2020-10-29
MSRP: $499

RTX 3070 FAQ

Is the RTX 3070 still worth it in 2026?

At its MSRP of $499 you get 9.2 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B, which ranks 2nd of the 4 cards compared here; it is also the 2nd fastest out of 12 cards with 8 GB. It runs 7–9B models well; 14B doesn't fit in 8 GB.

What is the largest model the RTX 3070 can run?

Qwen3.5 9B (9.7B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_K_M it uses 6.6 GB of 8 GB, and runs at about 45.8 tok/s.

Can the RTX 3070 run 14B models?

No. Qwen3 14B needs 11.9 GB at Q4, more than the 8 GB on this card.

How many tokens per second does the RTX 3070 give?

About 45.8 tok/s on Qwen3.5 9B at Q4_K_M, with the first token after 4.3 s on a 4K-token prompt.

What power supply does the RTX 3070 need?

Plan a 450 W PSU (2× the 220 W TDP).

Is renting cheaper than buying an RTX 3070?

Rent from $0.13/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈3,700 hours (≈2.5 years at 4 h a day).

Best coding LLMs 8 GB VRAM 12 GB VRAM GPUs with 8 GB or more RTX 5080 RTX 3080 Ti