New: connect Claude & other AIs to GenAIList over MCP — research the catalog and contribute to the shared knowledge base. Learn how →
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Runs downloadable LLMs up to ~45B at Q4, ~292-348 tok/s on an 8B model.
What you can run
At 8k context, FP16 KV. Full-speed tok/s holds up to "max ctx"; beyond it the context spills to system RAM (CPU/PCIe offload) and drops to the degraded figure.
| Model size | FP16 | Q8 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3B |
218-259.8 t/s ≤335k ctx · then ~4.9-5.8 (slow) |
436.1-519.7 t/s ≤381k ctx · then ~9.7-11.6 (slow) |
778.7-928 t/s ≤401k ctx · then ~17.4-20.7 (slow) |
| 7-8B |
81.8-97.4 t/s ≤91k ctx · then ~1.8-2.2 (slow) |
163.5-194.9 t/s ≤152k ctx · then ~3.7-4.4 (slow) |
292-348 t/s ≤179k ctx · then ~6.5-7.8 (slow) |
| 13B |
50.3-60 t/s ≤12k ctx · then ~1.1-1.3 (slow) |
100.6-119.9 t/s ≤91k ctx · then ~2.2-2.7 (slow) |
179.7-214.2 t/s ≤126k ctx · then ~4-4.8 (slow) |
| 32B | won't run | won't run |
73-87 t/s ≤38k ctx · then ~1.6-1.9 (slow) |
| 70B | won't run | won't run | won't run |
| 120B | won't run | won't run | won't run |
| 400B | won't run | won't run | won't run |
Estimate: tok/s ≈ bandwidth ÷ (params × bytes/param) × efficiency (NVIDIA). Cyan = fits ~29.4 GB usable. Beyond "ctx", KV spills to system RAM (CPU/PCIe offload) (rough degraded speed shown).
What else you need for a full build▶
Minimum supporting components for a desktop built around the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. Guidance — exact needs depend on your case, other parts and how much you offload to system RAM.
Run popular models on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Videos about the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Not even close‼️LLMs on RTX5090 vs others
5090 Local AI GPU Performance Meta-Analysis
More hardware like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
About the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a discrete GPU from NVIDIA on Blackwell, 2025. For local genAI the numbers that matter are its 32 GB (how big a model + context fits) and 1792 GB/s bandwidth (generation speed). Plan for a ~1000W power supply.
Frequently asked questions
What size LLM can the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run?▶
With ~29.4 GB usable it runs up to ~45B at Q4 (~13B at FP16) at 8k context. Bigger spills into system RAM (CPU/PCIe offload) and slows sharply.
How many tokens/sec does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 generate?▶
Generation is bandwidth-bound. At 1792 GB/s an 8B model at Q4 runs ~292-348 tok/s (estimate).
Why does long context slow it down?▶
The KV cache for the context must also fit fast memory; once weights+KV exceed 29.4 GB it spills to system RAM (CPU/PCIe offload) and throughput collapses. Each row shows the max usable context.
What else do I need to run the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?▶
Besides the card: a ≥1000W 80+ Gold power supply, at least 32GB of system RAM (2× the 32GB VRAM is ideal for CPU offload), a free PCIe x16 slot, any modern multi-core CPU, and a ≥1TB NVMe SSD for model weights.