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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/phi-3-medium-14b-on-a2-16gb


Can Phi 3 Medium 14B run on NVIDIA A2 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B60Good
Estimated from fit model

Phi 3 Medium 14B needs ~14.4 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A2 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~18 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
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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) — 14.4 GB, 19.6 tok/s, Tight fit
14.4 GB required16.0 GB available
90% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

19.6 tok/s

TTFT

9859 ms

Safe context

24K

Memory

14.4 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB
KV Cache3.1 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi 3 Medium 14B on NVIDIA A2 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: 19.6 tok/s decode · 9.9s TTFT (warm) · 49 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

No major red flags

This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatBRuns well18.3 tok/s5781 ms24K
CodingBTight fit18.3 tok/s10598 ms24K
Agentic CodingCVery compromised11.4 tok/s24653 ms24K
ReasoningBTight fit18.3 tok/s12525 ms24K
RAGCVery compromised11.4 tok/s30816 ms24K

Quantization options

How Phi 3 Medium 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A2 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.5 GB
LowB60
Q3_K_S
3
6.9 GB
LowB62
NVFP4
4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi 3 Medium 14B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi3:medium

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Phi 3 Medium 14B well

👁 NVIDIA
RTX 4000 Ada 20GBBudget pick
20 GB VRAM (+4)360 GB/s (+160)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 80%.35.3 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 80%.

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 (+736)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 321%.82.5 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 321%.

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 (+472)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 263%.71.1 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 263%.

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

~$1,599 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for NVIDIA A2 16GBSee all hardware for Phi 3 Medium 14B
7.8 GB
Medium
B63
Q4_K_M
4
8.5 GB
MediumB62
Q5_K_M
5
10.1 GB
HighB62
Q6_KBest for your GPU
6
11.5 GB
HighB62
Q8_0
8
15.0 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
28.7 GB
MaximumF0