How much VRAM does Gemma 3 4B need?

At Q4_K_M the weights are 2.4 GB; with an 8K context KV cache and runtime overhead it needs 3.3 GB, so a 8 GB card runs it with headroom.

Can a GeForce RTX 4070 run Gemma 3 4B?

Yes — Q8_0 fits with headroom at 8K context, about 72 tokens per second estimated.

Can a GeForce RTX 4090 run Gemma 3 4B?

Yes — Q8_0 fits with headroom at 8K context, about 143 tokens per second estimated.

Can a GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB run Gemma 3 4B?

Yes — Q8_0 fits with headroom at 8K context, about 51 tokens per second estimated.

Can a M3 Max · 64 GB run Gemma 3 4B?

Yes — Q8_0 fits with headroom at 8K context, about 53 tokens per second estimated.

Hardware requirements

What hardware do I need to run Gemma 3 4B?

4.3B 128K context Gemma Terms of Use

At Q4_K_M the weights are 2.4 GB; with an 8K KV cache and runtime overhead that is 3.3 GB, so it wants a 8 GB card to run with headroom — in practice 8 GB VRAM: GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 7 others. Every figure below is computed from the model’s published shape against each device’s usable memory; tokens per second are estimates. The method.

Minimum practical 8 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti — Q8_0, 5.2 GB of 7.0 GB, ~87 tok/s, up to 86K context.

Also: Arc A750, GeForce RTX 5060, GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti +2 more

the smallest card that holds it at all, at Q3_K_M — the lowest quantisation worth running

Recommended 8 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti — Q4_K_M, 3.3 GB of 7.0 GB, ~152 tok/s, up to 128K context.

Also: Arc A750, GeForce RTX 5060, GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti +2 more

runs the recommended quantisation with headroom at 8K context

High quality 8 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti — Q8_0, 5.2 GB of 7.0 GB, ~87 tok/s, up to 86K context.

Also: Arc A750, GeForce RTX 5060, GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti +2 more

near-lossless Q8_0 with headroom

Long context 10 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 3080 — Q4_K_M, 6.1 GB of 8.8 GB, ~190 tok/s at 128K.

Also: Arc B570

128K tokens (or the model’s maximum) at the recommended quantisation

Apple Silicon 16 GB unified

M1 · 16 GB — Q4_K_M, 3.3 GB of 10.7 GB, ~16 tok/s, up to 128K context.

smallest Mac that runs the recommended quantisation with headroom

CPU only 32 GB RAM

CPU only · DDR4 dual-channel — Q8_0, 5.2 GB of 25.6 GB, ~5.0 tok/s, up to 128K context.

no GPU — weights stream from system RAM

How much VRAM at each quantisation

Quant	Weights	+KV 8K	+KV 32K	+KV 128K	Total @ 8K	Needs	Quality
F16	8.0 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	8.9 GB	12 GB card	Reference
Q8_0	4.3 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	5.2 GB	8 GB card	−0.1% ppl
Q6_K	3.3 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	4.2 GB	8 GB card	−0.4% ppl
Q5_K_M	2.8 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	3.7 GB	8 GB card	−0.8% ppl
Q4_K_M	2.4 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	3.3 GB	8 GB card	−1.9% ppl
Q3_K_M	2.0 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	2.9 GB	8 GB card	−5.4% ppl
Q2_K	1.7 GB	0.30 GB	0.86 GB	3.1 GB	2.6 GB	8 GB card	−15% ppl

Totals add 0.6 GB runtime overhead and an f16 KV cache; "needs" is the smallest discrete card class whose usable memory (after display and driver reserve) leaves 15% headroom. A q8_0 cache roughly halves the KV columns.

Every device, checked

System RAM for offload:

16 32 64 128 256

NVIDIA · GeForce

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
GeForce RTX 5090	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	449	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 5080	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	240	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	224	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 5070	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	168	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	112	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 5060	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	112	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 4090	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	252	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4080 Super	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	184	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4080	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	180	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	168	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	126	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Super	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	126	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4070	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	126	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	72	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	72	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 4060	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	68	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	252	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 3090	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	234	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	228	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	228	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 3080	10 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	190	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	152	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 3070	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	112	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	112	tight	Check
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	90	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	11 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	154	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	84	yes	Check
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti	11 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	121	yes	Check

NVIDIA · GeForce laptop

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	224	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	144	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	108	yes	Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	64	tight	Check

NVIDIA · Workstation

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
RTX 6000 Ada	48 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	240	yes	Check
RTX 5000 Ada	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	144	yes	Check
RTX 4000 Ada	20 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	90	yes	Check
RTX 2000 Ada	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	56	yes	Check
RTX A6000	48 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	192	yes	Check
RTX A5000	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	192	yes	Check
RTX A4000	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	112	yes	Check

NVIDIA · Data centre

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
L40S	48 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	216	yes	Check
L4	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	75	yes	Check
A10	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	150	yes	Check
A100 40 GB	40 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	389	yes	Check
A100 80 GB	80 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	511	yes	Check
H100 PCIe	80 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	501	yes	Check
H100 SXM	80 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	839	yes	Check
H200 SXM	141 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	1202	yes	Check
Tesla P40	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	87	yes	Check

AMD · Radeon

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
Radeon RX 9070 XT	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	161	yes	Check
Radeon RX 9070	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	161	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7900 XTX	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	240	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7900 XT	20 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	200	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7900 GRE	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	144	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7800 XT	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	156	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7700 XT	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	108	yes	Check
Radeon RX 7600 XT	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	72	yes	Check
Radeon RX 6900 XT	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	128	yes	Check
Radeon RX 6800 XT	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	128	yes	Check
Radeon RX 6700 XT	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	96	yes	Check

AMD · Radeon Pro

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
Radeon Pro W7900	48 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	216	yes	Check
Radeon Pro W7800	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	144	yes	Check

AMD · Instinct

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
Instinct MI210	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	410	yes	Check
Instinct MI300X	192 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	1327	yes	Check

AMD · Ryzen AI Max

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 · 128 GB	128 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	59	yes	Check
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 · 64 GB	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	59	yes	Check

Apple · Apple Silicon

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
M1 · 16 GB	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	16	yes	Check
M1 Pro · 32 GB	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	46	yes	Check
M1 Max · 64 GB	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	92	yes	Check
M1 Ultra · 128 GB	128 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	185	yes	Check
M2 · 24 GB	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	23	yes	Check
M2 Pro · 32 GB	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	46	yes	Check
M2 Max · 96 GB	96 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	92	yes	Check
M2 Ultra · 192 GB	192 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	185	yes	Check
M3 · 24 GB	24 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	23	yes	Check
M3 Pro · 36 GB	36 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	35	yes	Check
M3 Max · 64 GB	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	92	yes	Check
M3 Max · 128 GB	128 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	92	yes	Check
M3 Ultra · 256 GB	256 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	185	yes	Check
M3 Ultra · 512 GB	512 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	185	yes	Check
M4 · 32 GB	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	28	yes	Check
M4 Pro · 48 GB	48 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	63	yes	Check
M4 Pro · 64 GB	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	63	yes	Check
M4 Max · 64 GB	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	95	yes	Check
M4 Max · 128 GB	128 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	126	yes	Check

Intel · Arc

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
Arc B580	12 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	114	yes	Check
Arc B570	10 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	95	yes	Check
Arc A770 16 GB	16 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	140	yes	Check
Arc A750	8 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	128	tight	Check

CPU · CPU + system RAM

Device	Memory	Best quant with headroom	Fits at all	Max context @ Q4_K_M	Tok/s est.	128K
CPU only · DDR4 dual-channel	32 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	8.8	yes	Check
CPU only · DDR5 dual-channel	64 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	16	yes	Check
CPU only · DDR5 8-channel server	256 GB	Q8_0	Q8_0	128K	53	yes	Check