Whisper v2 TPS calculator

Open weights OpenAI 1.6B parameters December 2022

Each card below is assessed against this model at the context length and minimum quality you choose. Speed is an estimate for a single request, calculated from the card's memory bandwidth and the size of the model once compressed.

Calculated for this model

818 cards that can run it

818 cards we hold specifications for

Smallest card that fits

Tesla C1080

4 GB · Q8_0 · 23.8 tok/s

Fastest card

B200

2,186 tok/s · 180 GB

Which GPUs can run Whisper v2?

Set the inputs, read the answer

Context length tokens

A longer conversation needs more memory, which can push this model off smaller cards.

Minimum quality

Hides cards that would only fit the model by compressing it below this point.

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Card memory

Also show cards that cannot run it

818 cards match

Calculating

					Needs	Quantisation	Fit
2,186 tok/s 1,312–3,498 · low confidence	B200 NVIDIA	180 GB	8,000 GB/s	Jan 2024	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
2,186 tok/s 1,312–3,498 · low confidence	B300 NVIDIA	288 GB	8,000 GB/s	Sep 2025	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,746 tok/s 1,047–2,793 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI350X AMD	288 GB	8,190 GB/s	Jan 2025	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,746 tok/s 1,047–2,793 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI355X AMD	288 GB	8,190 GB/s	Jan 2025	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,396 tok/s 838–2,234 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300 AMD	128 GB	6,550 GB/s	Jan 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,336 tok/s 802–2,138 · low confidence	H200 NVL NVIDIA	141 GB	4,890 GB/s	Nov 2024	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,336 tok/s 802–2,138 · low confidence	H200 SXM 141 GB NVIDIA	141 GB	4,890 GB/s	Nov 2024	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,279 tok/s 767–2,046 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI325X AMD	256 GB	6,000 GB/s	Oct 2024	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,135 tok/s 681–1,816 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300A AMD	128 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,135 tok/s 681–1,816 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300X AMD	192 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,135 tok/s 681–1,816 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI308X AMD	192 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,077 tok/s 646–1,723 · low confidence	H100 NVL 94 GB NVIDIA	94 GB	3,940 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
918 tok/s 551–1,469 · low confidence	H100 PCIe 96 GB NVIDIA	96 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
918 tok/s 551–1,469 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	3,360 GB/s	Oct 2022	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
918 tok/s 551–1,469 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 94 GB NVIDIA	94 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
918 tok/s 551–1,469 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 96 GB NVIDIA	96 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
918 tok/s 551–1,469 · low confidence	H800 SXM5 NVIDIA	80 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
699 tok/s 419–1,119 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI250 AMD	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Nov 2021	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
699 tok/s 419–1,119 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI250X AMD	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Nov 2021	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
583 tok/s 350–932 · low confidence	Data Center GPU Max 1550 Intel	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Jan 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
570 tok/s 342–912 · low confidence	Data Center GPU Max Subsystem Intel	128 GB	3,210 GB/s	Jan 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
557 tok/s 334–892 · low confidence	A100 SXM4 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Nov 2020	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
557 tok/s 334–892 · low confidence	A100X NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Jun 2021	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
557 tok/s 334–892 · low confidence	A800 SXM4 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Aug 2022	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
557 tok/s 334–892 · low confidence	H100 CNX NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Mar 2023	2.4 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable

Speeds are estimates for a single request — one conversation at a time — calculated from memory bandwidth, model size and quantisation. Real throughput varies with the inference runtime and its version. Figures published by hardware vendors measure many simultaneous requests and are much higher.

On record

Full specification

Everything on record for this model. Most of it describes how it was trained rather than how it runs — useful context for judging how much work went into it, and how it compares with models built at a different scale.

Origin

Who built this model, where, and when it was published.

Organisation: OpenAI
Organisation type: Industry
Country: United States of America
Published: 5 December 2022
Authors: Alec Radford, Jong Wook Kim, Tao Xu, Greg Brockman, Christine McLeavey, Ilya Sutskever

What it does

The problem areas the model was built for. A model can carry several of each.

Domain: Speech
Task: Speech recognition (ASR)
Approach: Self-supervised learning

Size

How large the model is and how much data it was trained on. Parameters are the figure that decides whether it fits on a given graphics card.

Parameters: 1.6B
Training data: 12,403,200,000 tokens
Epochs: 7.5
Batch size: 1,024

Training compute

The arithmetic performed to train the model, measured in floating-point operations. It is a measure of what the training run cost, not of how fast the finished model answers you.

Training compute: 1.1 × 10²³ FLOP
How it was established: Comparison with other models

Availability

Whether you can obtain the model and run it on your own hardware, which is what decides if any of the graphics-card figures on this page apply.

Weights: Open — downloadable
Model access: Open weights (unrestricted)
Training code: Unreleased

How it is classified

Labels the source dataset applies when tracking notable models, and how confident it is in the entry.

Likely above 10²³ FLOP: Yes
Record confidence: Likely
Citations: 7,066

Sources

Where this record came from and when it was last checked.

Reference: Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision
Last updated: 25 May 2026

The extremes

The ten fastest GPUs that run Whisper v2

Ranked by estimated tokens per second, newest card first where speeds tie. Because generation is bound by memory bandwidth, this ordering follows bandwidth rather than any gaming benchmark.

The smallest GPUs that still run Whisper v2

The cheapest route in, by memory capacity. A tight fit runs the model but leaves nothing spare for a longer conversation.

What the numbers mean

What it takes to run this model

Minimum card

Tesla C1080

Memory needed

2.4 GB

Fastest

2,186 tok/s

Whisper v2 reaches a parameter count of 1.6B. That is small enough that hardware is rarely the obstacle, including on cards several years old. The number of cards we track that can run it: 818.

The smallest card that holds it is Tesla C1080, with a memory capacity of 4 GB, running it at a compression of Q8_0 and producing around 23.8 tokens per second.

At the other end sits B200, generating roughly 2,186 tokens per second on the strength of a memory bandwidth of 8,000 GB/s.

About this model

Whisper v2 was published by OpenAI, in the country recorded as United States of America, during December 2022. The publishing organisation is categorised as industry.

It works in the domain of Speech, and is recorded as performing the task of speech recognition (ASR).

Because its weights were released, nothing about running it depends on a provider staying available — it is yours once downloaded.

How fast it runs, and why

Half the cards that hold it manage more than 61.4 tokens per second. Exceeding reading speed outright: 796 of them.

Every weight participates in every token here, so bandwidth is the whole story: the ranking below is effectively a ranking of memory throughput.

Memory here is estimated from size rather than computed from the architecture, which is not recorded for this model — the numbers are indicative rather than exact.

What went into building it

Producing it required arithmetic totalling around 1.1 × 10²³ FLOP. That figure measures what producing the model cost, and has no bearing on how fast it answers.

Training consumed a corpus of around 12,403,200,000 tokens of text.

Step by step

How to choose a GPU for Whisper v2

The table above has already assessed every card we hold specifications for against this model. Getting to your answer takes six steps.

01

Start from the memory column

Start from what it actually needs, which is the requirement of Whisper v2, needing around 2.4 GB at a compression of Q8_0. No amount of processing power compensates for a card that cannot hold it.
02

Set the context length you will work at

Set the context to what you will actually use. The cache grows with the conversation, and it is the usual reason a card that seemed fine stops fitting Whisper v2.
03

Set a quality floor

The quantisation column varies by card, because a bigger card holds a more accurate copy, reaching a compression of Q8_0 on the smallest card that fits. Setting a minimum quality drops the cards that only manage it by squeezing further than you would want, and holds the comparison at one level.
04

Compare tokens per second, not specifications

Ranking by tokens per second follows memory bandwidth rather than core counts, for Whisper v2. It will not match a gaming ordering, because generation is bound by memory bandwidth. The card topping the list is B200, at 2,186 tok/s.
05

Look at the headroom, not just the fit

The fit column separates cards that just manage it from those with room to spare, in the case of Whisper v2. Comfortable means you can grow the context later. That difference matters more than a few tokens per second, so buy for comfortable if you expect to.
06

See what else that card runs

Every card name links to its own page, which runs the same calculation across the whole model catalogue. A card is usually bought for more than one model, so it is worth a look before buying for Whisper v2.

Answers

Whisper v2 — common questions

Whisper v2— is it open source?

Its weights are published, so it can be downloaded and run on your own hardware. Note that open weights is not the same as open source in the full sense — it says nothing about the training data, the training code, or the commercial terms attached.

Whisper v2— how many parameters does it have?

It has a parameter count of 1.6B. 1550M. That figure is the total, and it is what decides how much memory the model needs — roughly half a gigabyte per billion at the compression most people use.

Whisper v2— who created it?

It was published by OpenAI, based in United States of America, an organisation categorised as industry.

Whisper v2— when was it released?

It was published in December 2022. Capability per parameter has improved considerably since, so a newer model of the same size is often the better use of the same hardware.

Whisper v2— what is it used for?

It works in the domain of Speech, and is recorded as handling the task of speech recognition (ASR). These are the areas it was designed around; they describe intent rather than a hard boundary.

Whisper v2— where can I download it?

The weights are published, though we do not hold a repository link for it. This site calculates hardware requirements rather than hosting model files.

Whisper v2— how much compute was used to train it?

Training consumed around 1.1 × 10²³ FLOP. That measures what producing the model cost and says nothing about how quickly it answers once trained — inference speed comes from memory bandwidth, not from the training budget.

Whisper v2— can I run it if it does not fit in my GPU?

Only by offloading, which is usually a false economy: the part held in system memory drags the whole thing down. Every figure here assumes the whole model is resident on the card.

Whisper v2— would two GPUs run it faster?

A second card roughly doubles the memory available but not the generation rate. The number already able to run it alone: 818. So a second card is rarely the answer here.

Whisper v2— why does the quantisation differ between cards?

Each card is shown running the least-compressed copy it can hold. The number of distinct compression levels across the cards that fit it: 1. Bigger cards get the more accurate version, and the quality floor above pins the comparison to one level.

Whisper v2— how accurate are these speed estimates?

These are estimates with real error bars, and any of them could reasonably land anywhere in its published range depending on which runtime you use. The fastest result here: 1,312–3,498 tok/s on B200. The same model and card vary by thirty to fifty per cent depending on the inference software and its version.

Whisper v2— what GPU do I need to run it?

The smallest card in our catalogue that holds it is Tesla C1080, with a memory capacity of 4 GB. It runs the model at a compression of Q8_0 using about 2.4 GB, and produces roughly 23.8 tokens per second. The number of cards able to run it in total: 818.

Whisper v2— how fast is it on a GPU?

It depends on the card. The quickest we calculate is B200, at about 2,186 tokens per second; the slowest that still runs it manages considerably less. Reading speed is around ten tokens per second, and the number of cards clearing that: 796.

Whisper v2— how much VRAM does it need?

It needs about 2.4 GB at a compression of Q8_0, which is what the smallest card that runs it uses. Less compression needs more: the figures in the memory column above are recalculated for each card, because each one holds the least-compressed version it can.

Whisper v2— can I run it on a GPU holding 8 GB?

Yes. The card CMP 170HX 8 GB, holding 8 GB, runs it at a compression of Q8_0, using about 2.4 GB and generating roughly 407 tokens per second. The fit is comfortable.

Whisper v2— can I run it on a GPU holding 12 GB?

Yes. The card GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, holding 12 GB, runs it at a compression of Q8_0, using about 2.4 GB and generating roughly 249 tokens per second. The fit is comfortable.

Whisper v2— can I run it on a GPU holding 16 GB?

Yes. The card Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB, holding 16 GB, runs it at a compression of Q8_0, using about 2.4 GB and generating roughly 309 tokens per second. The fit is comfortable.

Whisper v2— can I run it on a GPU holding 24 GB?

Yes. The card GeForce RTX 5090 D V2, holding 24 GB, runs it at a compression of Q8_0, using about 2.4 GB and generating roughly 366 tokens per second. The fit is comfortable.

Source

Original publication

Record last updated 25 May 2026

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