VOOZH about

URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/baichuan-7b-on-t4-16gb

⇱ Baichuan 7B on NVIDIA T4 16GB? TIGHT FIT


Can Baichuan 7B run on NVIDIA T4 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B68Good
Estimated from fit model

Baichuan 7B needs ~14.9 GB VRAM. NVIDIA T4 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~49 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced
Share:

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 14.9 GB, 48.7 tok/s, Tight fit
14.9 GB required16.0 GB available
93% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

48.7 tok/s

TTFT

3974 ms

Safe context

8K

Memory

14.9 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB
KV Cache7.8 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsBaichuan 7B on NVIDIA T4 16GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step. Given information: - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour) - Time = 2.5 hours Formula: Distance = Speed x Time Calculation: Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h = 150 miles The train travels 150 miles. Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time. Breakdown: - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance) - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles Total distance: 150 miles (same) Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 48.7 tok/s decode · 4.0s TTFT (warm) · 122 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatARuns well48.7 tok/s2168 ms8K
CodingBTight fit48.7 tok/s3974 ms8K
Agentic CodingFToo heavy16.5 tok/s17077 ms8K
ReasoningBTight fit48.7 tok/s4697 ms8K
RAGFToo heavy16.5 tok/s21346 ms8K

Quantization options

How Baichuan 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA T4 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
2.7 GB
LowB63
Q3_K_S
3
3.4 GB
LowB63
NVFP4
4
3.9 GB
MediumB64
Q4_K_M
4
4.3 GB
MediumB64
Q5_K_M
5
5.0 GB
HighB65
Q6_K
6
5.7 GB
HighB66
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
7.5 GB
Very HighB67
F16
16
14.3 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Baichuan 7B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \ --hf-repo "baichuan-inc/Baichuan-7B" \ --hf-file "Baichuan-7B-Q4_K_M.gguf" \ -c 4096 -ngl 99

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Baichuan 7B well

👁 NVIDIA
RTX 4000 Ada 20GBBudget pick
20 GB VRAM (+4)360 GB/s (+40)
A
Raises estimated decode speed by about 35%.65.8 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 35%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,250 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX 3090 24GBBest value
24 GB VRAM (+8)936 GB/s (+616)
A
Raises estimated decode speed by about 101%.98 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 101%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,499 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell 24GBNVIDIA upgrade
24 GB VRAM (+8)672 GB/s (+352)
A
Raises estimated decode speed by about 101%.98 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 101%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,599 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for NVIDIA T4 16GBSee all hardware for Baichuan 7B