can it run
Yes, but close to the edge. 8GB against a 7GB working set: it runs, with little room for long context windows or other processes.
weights 4.9GB + KV cache 0.5GB at 4k context vs ~8GB usable → full. 5.4 GB needed of 8 GB usable — headroom for context
computed roofline: 192.3 GB/s × 0.28–0.50 efficiency window / 4.9GB (Q4_K_M) — bands, never points.
| model file | 4.9GB (GGUF Q4_K_M) |
| minimum memory | 7GB working set |
| this machine | 8GB GDDR5, 192 GB/s |
| params | 8B |
| license | llama3.1 (gated on HF) |
| price | $100 |
easy run: ollama pull llama3.1:8b
runs with: ollama · llama.cpp · koboldcpp · lm studio
→ Tesla M60 (16GB, used) — cheapest machine that runs it ($35)
→ every model the Tesla P4 (8GB, used) can run — full list
→ tesla-p100-16gb — the next step up from this machine's GPU