What can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 run for reasoning?
Build: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 + — + 32 GB RAM (windows)
Runs comfortably67 models
Ranked by fit for reasoning use case + predicted speed. Click a row for VRAM breakdown.
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 11.0 GBHeadroom: 13.0 GB128tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 11.0 GBHeadroom: 13.0 GBollama run RefinedNeuro/RN_TR_R1:latest128tok/sEstimated
ollama run RefinedNeuro/RN_TR_R1:latestQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 10.7 GBHeadroom: 13.3 GB128tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 13.8 GBHeadroom: 10.2 GBollama run deepseek-r1:7b83tok/sEstimated
ollama run deepseek-r1:7bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 17.6 GBHeadroom: 6.4 GBollama run phi4-reasoning:14b73tok/sEstimated
ollama run phi4-reasoning:14bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 17.6 GBHeadroom: 6.4 GBollama run deepseek-r1:14b73tok/sEstimated
ollama run deepseek-r1:14bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 17.6 GBHeadroom: 6.4 GBollama run phi4:14b73tok/sEstimated
ollama run phi4:14bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 11.0 GBHeadroom: 13.0 GBollama run RefinedNeuro/RN_TR_R2:latest128tok/sEstimated
ollama run RefinedNeuro/RN_TR_R2:latestQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 4,096VRAM: 8.2 GBHeadroom: 15.8 GB146tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 9.9 GBHeadroom: 14.1 GB146tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 18.7 GBHeadroom: 5.3 GB426tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 4,096VRAM: 15.8 GBHeadroom: 8.2 GB426tok/sEstimated
Runs with tradeoffs23 models
Tight VRAM, partial CPU offload, or context-limited.
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 23.6 GBHeadroom: 0.4 GB- • Tight VRAM fit — only 0.4 GB headroom left for context growth
33tok/sEstimated
- • Tight VRAM fit — only 0.4 GB headroom left for context growth
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 37.8 GBHeadroom: 5.4 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run deepseek-r1:32b32tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run deepseek-r1:32bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 37.8 GBHeadroom: 5.4 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwq:32b32tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwq:32bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 39.8 GBHeadroom: 3.4 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~40% of layers run on CPU
85tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~40% of layers run on CPU
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 35.7 GBHeadroom: 7.5 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~33% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwen3:30b34tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~33% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwen3:30bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 36.2 GBHeadroom: 7.0 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~34% of layers run on CPU
ollama run gemma4:31b33tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~34% of layers run on CPU
ollama run gemma4:31bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 23.9 GBHeadroom: 0.1 GB- • Tight VRAM fit — only 0.1 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen2.5-coder:32b32tok/sEstimated
- • Tight VRAM fit — only 0.1 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen2.5-coder:32bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 37.8 GBHeadroom: 5.4 GB- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwen3:32b32tok/sEstimated
- • Partial CPU offload: ~36% of layers run on CPU
ollama run qwen3:32bWhat if you upgraded?
Hypothetical scenarios. We re-ran the compatibility engine for each.
+32 GB system RAM
Check the current price
Adds 32 GB to your CPU-offload working set. Helps when models don't quite fit in VRAM.
Unlocks: 46 new comfortable, 35 new tradeoff
- • Qwen 3 0.6B
- • Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
- • Qwen 3 1.7B
- • Gemma 3 270M
Upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Launch MSRP $1,999 (2025). Check the current price.
32 GB VRAM (vs your 24 GB) plus a bandwidth jump from ~? GB/s to ~1792 GB/s.
Unlocks: 63 new comfortable
- • Qwen 3 0.6B
- • Qwen 3 30B-A3B
- • Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B Instruct
- • Qwen 3 32B
Add a second NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
Launch MSRP $1,499 (2020). Now sells well below its launch price on the used market. Check the current price.
Tensor parallelism splits the model across both cards, effectively doubling VRAM. Bandwidth doesn't double — runs ~1.5× the single-card speed in practice.
Unlocks: 69 new comfortable
- • Qwen 3 0.6B
- • Qwen 3 30B-A3B
- • Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B Instruct
- • Qwen 3 32B
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Won't runtop 5 popular models
Need more memory than you have. Shown for orientation.
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
—
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
—
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
—
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
—
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
—
Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (24 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.
Not enough VRAM for these models? Rent a GPU by the hour
The models above need more memory than 24 GB VRAM + 32 GB system RAM. You can rent a GPU with enough VRAM by the hour to run one of them, or to test it before you buy hardware. For daily use, owning a card usually costs less over time.
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The two tiers run on different hosts and terms. Check which tier a pod is on before a long job.
Rent on RunPodVast.ai
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How to read these numbers
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