Can the RTX 4070 12 GB run SDXL 1.0?
Yes. 16-bit fits on the RTX 4070 12 GB with 4.9 GB to spare.
Take 16-bit (6.9 GB). In use it comes to about 7.1 GB, with 4.9 GB left over on 12 GB.
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 12 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit ← SAFETENSORS · stabilityai | 6.9 GB | 7.1 GB | fits · 4.9 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 · 20 steps “20/20 [00:06<00:00, 3.21it/s] Prompt executed in 7.13 seconds” ComfyUI 'GPU Benchmark' thread: default workflow, SDXL 1.0 base, 1024x1024, seed 1, second run; GPU stated as 'RTX 4070 12Gb' | 7.13 s / image · 3.21 it/s | — | 2024-03-21 | github.com → |
Other people's numbers are copied as published, with a link. Send yours.
05About the RTX 4070 12 GB
The RTX 4070 12 GB is an Ada Lovelace GPU with hardware FP8, so ComfyUI can compute Comfy-Org's FP8 files natively: small and fast. (Plain FP8 files use FP8 maths with the --fast fp8_matrix_mult option.)
12 GB GDDR6X · 192-bit · 504 GB/s · Ada Lovelace. 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 4070 12 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 4070 12 GB?
6.9 GB: sd_xl_base_1.0.safetensors.