Running Qwen3-8B on Windows in 2026: The Complete Ollama and llama.cpp Guide
Quick answer. Qwen3-8B remains the best local LLM for Windows machines with 8-16 GB of VRAM in 2026: 8.2B parameters, 32K context (131K with YaRN), Apache 2.0, and a thinking-mode toggle. Use Ollama 0.22 for one-command setup (ollama run qwen3:8b, 5.2 GB Q4_K_M)