llmrun

NVIDIA · Ampere · 24 GB VRAM tier

Best AI Models for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (24 GB)

Runs 27–31B and 35B MoE models well; 70B doesn't fit in 24 GB.

24 GB GDDR6X1008 GB/s80 TFLOPS FP16450 WAmpere 2022
Buyabout $1,999

What LLMs can the RTX 3090 Ti run?

#ModelSpeedllmrun ScoreQuant · VRAM
1
Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 37.6 t/s
37.6 tok/sQ4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2
Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 37.6 t/s
37.6 tok/sQ4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3
Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB · 32.1 t/s
32.1 tok/sQ4_K_M · 21.7 GB
4
Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 171 t/s
171 tok/sQ4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5
Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 197 t/s
197 tok/sQ4_K_M · 19.3 GB
See all 327 models on the RTX 3090 Ti →Best quant that fits · speeds estimated on this card

About the RTX 3090 Ti

The RTX 3090 Ti is the quickest card in the 24 GB class: it runs 27–31B and 35B MoE models well. It is power-hungry for its speed, and fair value at ≈$1,600 used. Ampere generation, released 2022.

Speed in 24 GB#11008 GB/s
Per watt#40.23 tok/s per W on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)
Per dollar#46.4 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)
GenerationAmperereleased 2022

RTX 3090 Ti strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 151 tok/s in 22 GB
  • Room for long context: Qwen3.8 27B at Q4 uses 17.9 GB, leaving 6.1 GB free

Weaknesses

  • 70B models don't fit: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4 vs 24 GB here
  • Slow prompt reading: A 4K-token prompt on Qwen3.8 27B waits 6.3 s for the first token
  • 450 W under load: Plan a 900 W PSU; ≈$99 a year at 4 h a day
  • No FP8 or NVFP4: Ampere predates both; use GGUF, AWQ or GPTQ builds

Speed per dollar and per watt

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 3090 Ti has no new price, so the New view shows it at its MSRP.

CardNew pricetok/stok/s per $100tok/s per 100 W
about $1,13090.6
8.0
25.5
RTX 5070 Ti16 GBBest new value
about $1,17091.6
7.8
30.5
RX 907016 GB
about $80060.4
7.6
27.5
about $81560.4
7.4
19.9
about $1,69098.1
5.8
27.3
about $1,999103
5.2
22.9
about $59030.2
5.1
18.9
about $5,376183
3.4
31.8
CardUsed pricetok/stok/s per $100tok/s per 100 W
RX 907016 GBBest used value
about $65060.4
9.3
27.5
about $1,00090.6
9.1
25.5
about $1,10091.6
8.3
30.5
about $1,600103
6.4
22.9
about $48030.2
6.3
18.9
about $1,64098.1
6.0
27.3
about $3,000103
3.4
22.9
about $6,400183
2.9
31.8

Cost per token: the RTX 3090 Ti against 16–32 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.

16 GB24 GB32 GBthis cardat MSRP
Cost per 1M output tokenson Qwen3.5 9B · card over 3 years + power
$1.17
Card, used price
$0.99
Power
$0.18
3-year cost of ownership$1,896
Or rent in the cloud$0.30/hr

Renting costs as much as buying after ≈5,300 hours (≈3.7 years at 4 h a day).

Include card price

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 3090 Ti, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.

RTX 3090 Ti tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (1008 GB/s). Grey rows need more than 24 GB.

  1. 9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
    103tok/s
  2. 14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB
    69.0tok/s
  3. 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
    37.6tok/s
  4. 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
    151tok/s
  5. 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bit
    needs 51.3 GB
  6. 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 1141 models on the RTX 3090 Ti

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 3090 Ti — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
ModelVRAMScoreFit
Qwen1.5 14B
Q4_K_M·62.5 t/s
22.2 GBB62, Decent
Hermes 2 Theta Llama 3 70B
IQ2_XXS·32.2 t/s
22.4 GBB52, Decent
IQ3_M·92.2 t/s
23.5 GBC44, Usable
Qwen1.5 32B
Q4_K_S·34.3 t/s
22.9 GBB50, Decent
Qwen2.5 32B
Q3_K_M·39.0 t/s
20.6 GBA67, Runs well
Q4_K_M·120.9 t/s
12.9 GBS95, Runs great
Qwen2.5 Coder 32B
Q4_K_S·34.0 t/s
23.0 GBB48, Decent
Deepseek Coder 33B Base
Q4_K_S·33.5 t/s
23.2 GBB46, Decent
IQ2_S·29.1 t/s
23.2 GBC44, Usable
Q4_K_M·442.7 t/s
4.3 GBS100, Runs great
Falcon 40B
IQ3_S·33.5 t/s
23.6 GBC42, Usable
BF16·37.1 t/s
20.2 GBA69, Runs well
IQ2_S·28.7 t/s
23.5 GBC41, Usable
IQ2_XXS·32.2 t/s
22.4 GBB52, Decent
BF16·—
24.8 GBF0, Won't fit

RTX 3090 Ti specs, power and PSU

Specs

Architecture
Ampere
VRAM
24 GB GDDR6X
Memory bandwidth
1008.0 GB/s
FP16 (dense)
80.00 TFLOPS
CUDA cores
10,752
Tensor cores
336
Compute capability
8.6
TDP
450 W
Released
2022-03-29
MSRP
$1,999

RTX 3090 Ti FAQ

Is the RTX 3090 Ti still worth it in 2026?

At ≈$1,600 used you get 6.4 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B, which ranks 4th of the 8 cards compared here; it is also the fastest out of 5 cards with 24 GB. It runs 27–31B and 35B MoE models well; 70B doesn't fit in 24 GB.

What is the largest model the RTX 3090 Ti can run?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B (36.0B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_K_M it uses 22.0 GB of 24 GB, and runs at about 151 tok/s.

Can the RTX 3090 Ti run Qwen3.8 27B?

Yes. Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q4_K_M, using 17.9 GB of 24 GB, and it is the best model that runs well on this card.

Can the RTX 3090 Ti run 70B models?

No. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 24 GB on this card.

How many tokens per second does the RTX 3090 Ti give?

About 37.6 tok/s on Qwen3.8 27B at Q4_K_M, with the first token after 6.3 s on a 4K-token prompt.

What power supply does the RTX 3090 Ti need?

Plan a 900 W PSU (2× the 450 W TDP).

Is 24 GB enough for coding and agents?

Yes for coding: Qwen3.8 27B, the best of the 9 coding models that fit, runs at about 38 tok/s. For agents, not yet: no agent-scored model fits in less than 96 GB.

Is renting cheaper than buying an RTX 3090 Ti?

Rent from $0.30/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈5,300 hours (≈3.7 years at 4 h a day).