Can the RTX 3090 24 GB run SDXL 1.0?
Yes. 16-bit fits on the RTX 3090 24 GB with 16.9 GB to spare.
16-bit (6.9 GB) needs about 7.1 GB in use, so 16.9 GB of the 24 GB stays free: room for a larger image, a LoRA or a ControlNet.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint | sd_xl_base_1.0.safetensors 16-bit · stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0 | models/checkpoints | 6.9 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 6.9 GB | |||
One file: the checkpoint already contains the text encoders and the VAE. Sizes from Hugging Face, 2026-10-01.
02Every SDXL file on 24 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit ← SAFETENSORS · stabilityai | 6.9 GB | 7.1 GB | fits · 16.9 GB spare | the original weights | Hugging Face → |
“Needed” adds 1.2 GB of working memory for SDXL and a 0.8 GB reserve. Sizes 2026-10-01. The 6.94 GB checkpoint also holds the two text encoders and the VAE. During sampling only the UNet (about 5.1 GB at 16-bit, 2.6B parameters) has to sit in VRAM, so that is the figure used for the 16-bit file.
03The text encoder
The text encoder is inside the checkpoint, so there is nothing extra to download.
04Measured and reported results
| Label | Setup | Result | Peak VRAM | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reported | sd_xl_base_1.0 · 1024x1024 “Prompt executed in 6.16 seconds” ComfyUI 'GPU Benchmark' thread: default workflow, SDXL 1.0 base, 1024x1024, seed 1, second run | 6.16 s / image | — | 2024-03-06 | github.com → |
Other people's numbers are copied as published, with a link. Send yours.
05About the RTX 3090 24 GB
The RTX 3090 24 GB (Ampere) has no FP8 compute. FP8 files still load and save memory, but ComfyUI converts them back before the maths, so there is no speed gain - Q8_0 GGUF is the closer-to-original 8-bit choice. ComfyUI can compute INT8 files natively on NVIDIA, which is worth a try where a model offers one.
24 GB GDDR6X · 384-bit · 936 GB/s · Ampere. Everything that runs on it →
06Questions
How much VRAM does SDXL need?
Around 7.1 GB with the smallest file (16-bit).
Which SDXL file should I download for the RTX 3090 24 GB?
16-bit (6.9 GB) from stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0.
How much do I need to download for SDXL on the RTX 3090 24 GB?
6.9 GB: sd_xl_base_1.0.safetensors.