# NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 for local LLMs

> Fast, but 16GB is the limit, and the RTX 5070 Ti runs the same models nearly as quickly for less.

The RTX 5080 has 16GB of GDDR7 and 960 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which decides how big a model fits and how fast it generates text. It comfortably runs models up to about 15B parameters: the largest in our catalog is Phi-4 at Q5_K_M (13GB with 8K context, ~67 tokens/sec). Our top all-round pick for it is Qwen3.8 27B (Q3_K_M, ~55 tokens/sec).

## Key specs

- Memory: 16GB GDDR7
- Memory bandwidth: 960 GB/s
- Architecture: Blackwell (2025)
- Power: 360W
- Typical price: ~$1,600 (checked 2026-10)
- Software: CUDA, Vulkan

## Best models for this GPU

- **Best overall (also coding, reasoning, vision, largest that fits):** Qwen3.8 27B at Q3_K_M, ~14.8GB with 8K context, ~55 tokens/sec
- **Runner-up:** Qwen3.5 9B at Q8_0, ~12.0GB with 8K context, ~66 tokens/sec
- **Fastest good model:** Gemma 4 26B A4B at Q3_K_M, ~14.1GB with 8K context, ~155 tokens/sec

## Compatibility (best quantization that fits, 8K context)

| Model | Params | Quant | Memory | Speed | Verdict |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8B | Q8_0 | 10.5GB | ~75 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9B | Q8_0 | 12.0GB | ~66 tok/s | Runs well |
| Phi-4 | 14.7B | Q5_K_M | 13.2GB | ~67 tok/s | Runs well |
| gpt-oss-20b | 20.9B (3.6B active) | MXFP4 | 15.0GB | ~130 tok/s | Fits, tight |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B | 26B (3.8B active) | Q3_K_M | 14.1GB | ~155 tok/s | Fits, tight |
| Qwen3.8 27B | 27B | Q3_K_M | 14.8GB | ~55 tok/s | Fits, tight |
| Gemma 4 31B | 31B | Q4_K_M | 22.5GB | ~5.8 tok/s | Partial offload |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35B (3B active) | Q4_K_M | 23.7GB | ~48 tok/s | Partial offload |
| GLM-4.5-Air | 106B (12B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| Llama 4 Scout | 109B (17B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| gpt-oss-120b | 117B (5.1B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 122B (10B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 284B (13B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | 320B (18B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3 | 744B (40B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |

## Pros
- 960 GB/s GDDR7 is quick for 8B to 24B models
- Mature CUDA software support
- PCIe 5.0 x16 and FP4 tensor support

## Cons
- 16GB is the same capacity as much cheaper cards
- About $1,600 new, well above its $999 MSRP
- Little LLM speed gain over the RTX 5070 Ti

Full page: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/rtx-5080 · Best models: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/rtx-5080/best-models

Sources: [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 product page](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/50-series/rtx-5080/)

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Source: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/rtx-5080 · Updated October 14, 2026 · Llama Builds. Speeds marked ~ are estimates from our bandwidth model (https://llamabuilds.ai/methodology); measured results are labeled as such.