Gemma 3 12B hardware requirements
12.2B parameters. Needs about 11.2 GB at Q4_K_M with 8K context. Model card.
Memory needed at each quantization
| Quant | Quality | 8K context | 32K context |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 28.2 GB | 37.9 GB |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 16.8 GB | 26.4 GB |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 13.8 GB | 23.5 GB |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 12.5 GB | 22.2 GB |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 11.2 GB | 20.9 GB |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 9.8 GB | 19.4 GB |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 8.4 GB | 18.1 GB |
Run it with Ollama: ollama run gemma3:12b (downloads Q4_K_M by default).
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Every GPU and Mac checked
| GPU | Runs? | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB | Yes | Q4_K_M · ~11.2 GB · ~29 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 3070 | No | Needs ~11.2 GB at Q4_K_M; 8 GB available |
| NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB | Yes, with heavy quantization | Q3_K_M · ~9.8 GB · ~76 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 3090 | Yes | Q8_0 · ~16.8 GB · ~43 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 4060 | No | Needs ~11.2 GB at Q4_K_M; 8 GB available |
| NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti 16GB | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~17 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~27 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 4070 | Yes | Q4_K_M · ~11.2 GB · ~41 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti Super | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~40 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 4080 | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~43 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Yes | Q8_0 · ~16.8 GB · ~47 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 5070 | Yes | Q4_K_M · ~11.2 GB · ~55 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~54 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 5080 | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~58 tok/s |
| NVIDIA RTX 5090 | Yes | FP16 · ~28.2 GB · ~44 tok/s |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | Yes | Q6_K · ~13.8 GB · ~37 tok/s |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | Yes | Q8_0 · ~16.8 GB · ~44 tok/s |
| Apple M4 (16GB) | Yes, with heavy quantization | Q3_K_M · ~9.8 GB · ~12 tok/s |
| Apple M1 (16GB) | Yes, with heavy quantization | Q3_K_M · ~9.8 GB · ~7 tok/s |
| Apple M2 Pro (32GB) | Yes | Q8_0 · ~16.8 GB · ~9 tok/s |
| Apple M3 Max (64GB) | Yes | FP16 · ~28.2 GB · ~10 tok/s |
| Apple M4 Pro (48GB) | Yes | FP16 · ~28.2 GB · ~7 tok/s |
| Apple M4 Max (128GB) | Yes | FP16 · ~28.2 GB · ~13 tok/s |
| Apple M2 Ultra (192GB) | Yes | FP16 · ~28.2 GB · ~20 tok/s |