Gemma 3 4B needs ~10.2 GB VRAM. NVIDIA L20 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~64 tok/s.
Operating mode
Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.
Current mode
Balanced
Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.
Select quantization to explore
Fit status
Runs well
Decode
64.0 tok/s
TTFT
3025 ms
Safe context
128K
Memory
10.2 GB / 48.0 GB
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.
No major red flags
This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | B | Runs well | 64.0 tok/s | 1650 ms | 128K |
| Coding | B | Runs well | 64.0 tok/s | 3025 ms | 128K |
| Agentic Coding | B | Runs well | 64.0 tok/s | 4400 ms | 128K |
| Reasoning | B | Runs well | 64.0 tok/s | 3575 ms | 128K |
| RAG | B | Runs well | 64.0 tok/s | 5500 ms | 128K |
Inference speed
Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Gemma 3 4B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~76 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.
| GPU / Mac | Memory | Quant | Speed (tok/s) | Fits? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 RTX 5090 32GB | 32 GB | Q4_K_M | 76.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 64.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4080 Super 16GB | 16 GB | Q4_K_M | 64.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4060 8GB | 8 GB | Q4_K_M | 57.2 | Fits |
| RTX 3090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4070 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
| RTX 3060 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
RX 7900 XTX 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB | 256 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB | 48 GB | Q4_K_M | 56.0 | Fits |
Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.
How Gemma 3 4B (4B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA L20 48GB (48.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 1.6 GB | Low | B63 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 2.0 GB | Low | B63 |
NVFP4 | 4 | 2.2 GB | Medium | B63 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 2.4 GB | Medium | B63 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 2.9 GB | High | B63 |
Q6_K | 6 | 3.3 GB | High | B63 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 4.3 GB | Very High | B63 |
F16Best for your GPU | 16 | 8.2 GB | Maximum | B64 |
Copy-paste commands to run Gemma 3 4B on your machine.
Run
ollama run gemma3:4bYes, NVIDIA L20 48GB can run Gemma 3 4B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 64.0 tok/s.
Gemma 3 4B (4B parameters) requires approximately 10.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Gemma 3 4B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On NVIDIA L20 48GB, Gemma 3 4B achieves approximately 64.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3025ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Gemma 3 4B on NVIDIA L20 48GB receives a B grade with 64.0 tok/s and 128K context.
On NVIDIA L20 48GB, Gemma 3 4B can safely use up to 128K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
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