Can gemma 3 12b it run on RTX 2070 Super 8GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if gemma 3 12b it feels slow on RTX 2070 Super 8GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

YES — With Q3_K_S

D39Poor

Estimated from fit model

gemma 3 12b it needs ~9.3 GB VRAM. RTX 2070 Super 8GB has 8.0 GB. With Q3_K_S quantization, expect ~23 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Host offload

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

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.

gemma 3 12b it at Q4_K_M needs 10.7 GB — too much for RTX 2070 Super 8GB (8.0 GB). Runs at Q3_K_S (9.3 GB) with low quality. 2 quantization levels fit.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 10.7 GB, exceeds 8.0 GB available

10.7 GB required8.0 GB available

134% VRAM needed

2.7 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

14.3 tok/s

TTFT

13537 ms

Safe context

Memory

10.7 GB / 8.0 GB

Offload

30%

Memory breakdown

Weights7.3 GB

KV Cache1.4 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.8 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsgemma 3 12b it on RTX 2070 Super 8GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 14.3 tok/s decode · 13.5s TTFT (warm) · 36 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 0.8 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	16.6 tok/s	6362 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	14.3 tok/s	13537 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	10.9 tok/s	25807 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	14.3 tok/s	15998 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	10.9 tok/s	32258 ms	4K

Inference speed

gemma 3 12b it inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for gemma 3 12b it at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~164 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	164.0	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	104.7	Fits

Quantization options

How gemma 3 12b it (12B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 2070 Super 8GB (8.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_KBest for your GPU	2	4.7 GB	Low	C53
Q3_K_S	3	5.9 GB	Low	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run gemma 3 12b it on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-maziyarpanahi--gemma-3-12b-it-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs gemma 3 12b it well

RTX 3060 12GBBudget pick

12 GB VRAM (+4)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.32.5 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$329 MSRP

RTX 5060 Ti 16GBBest value

16 GB VRAM (+8)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.37.9 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$449 MSRP

RTX 4060 Ti 16GBNVIDIA upgrade

16 GB VRAM (+8)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.28.7 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 2070 Super 8GB run gemma 3 12b it?

Yes, RTX 2070 Super 8GB can run gemma 3 12b it at Q3_K_S quantization (Very compromised (needs ~0.8 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 10.7 GB which exceeds available memory, but at Q3_K_S it needs only 9.3 GB. Expected decode speed: 22.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does gemma 3 12b it need?

gemma 3 12b it (12B parameters) requires approximately 10.7 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On RTX 2070 Super 8GB, it fits at Q3_K_S using 9.3 GB.

What is the best quantization for gemma 3 12b it?

The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on RTX 2070 Super 8GB the best fitting quantization is Q3_K_S, which uses 9.3 GB.

What speed will gemma 3 12b it run at on RTX 2070 Super 8GB?

On RTX 2070 Super 8GB, gemma 3 12b it achieves approximately 22.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 8519ms using Q3_K_S quantization.

Can RTX 2070 Super 8GB run gemma 3 12b it for coding?

For coding workloads, gemma 3 12b it on RTX 2070 Super 8GB receives a F grade with 14.3 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can gemma 3 12b it use on RTX 2070 Super 8GB?

On RTX 2070 Super 8GB, gemma 3 12b it can safely use up to 4K tokens of context at Q3_K_S quantization. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 2070 Super 8GB See all hardware for gemma 3 12b it

Embed this result▼

Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.

<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/hf-maziyarpanahi--gemma-3-12b-it-gguf-on-rtx-2070-super-8gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

Preview: