Qwen 3 30B A3B needs ~18.9 GB VRAM. Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q3_K_S quantization, expect ~12 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
6.6 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
6.9 tok/s
TTFT
27924 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
22.6 GB / 16.0 GB
Offload
30%
It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.
CPU or host-memory offload is active
About 20% 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.
Runtime ecosystem is narrower than CUDA
Intel GPUs can look attractive on memory per dollar, but local AI tooling, kernels, and model coverage are still broader and easier on CUDA today.
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.
Prefer CUDA if you want the path of least resistance
If your goal is maximum runtime coverage, easier troubleshooting, and better support for new local AI releases, CUDA is usually still the safer upgrade path.
Buy headroom, not only minimum fit
A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 7.4 tok/s | 14240 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 6.9 tok/s | 27924 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 6.1 tok/s | 46176 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 6.9 tok/s | 33001 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 6.1 tok/s | 57720 ms | 4K |
How Qwen 3 30B A3B (30.5B params) fits at each quantization level on Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB (16.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 11.9 GB | Low | F0 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 14.9 GB | Low | F0 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 3 30B A3B on your machine.
Run
ollama run qwen3:30b-a3bUpgrade options
Intel Arc Pro B60 24GBBudget pickMakes 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.
~$599 MSRP
RTX 5090 32GBBiggest leapMakes 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.
~$1,999 MSRP
Intel Data Center GPU Max 1550 128GBBest valueMakes 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.
~$15,000 MSRP
Gaudi 3 128GBIntel upgradeMakes 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.
~$15,000 MSRP
Yes, Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB can run Qwen 3 30B A3B at Q3_K_S quantization (Very compromised (needs ~2.3 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 22.6 GB which exceeds available memory, but at Q3_K_S it needs only 18.9 GB. Expected decode speed: 11.5 tok/s.
Qwen 3 30B A3B (30.5B parameters) requires approximately 22.6 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB, it fits at Q3_K_S using 18.9 GB.
The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB the best fitting quantization is Q3_K_S, which uses 18.9 GB.
On Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB, Qwen 3 30B A3B achieves approximately 11.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 16811ms using Q3_K_S quantization.
For coding workloads, Qwen 3 30B A3B on Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB receives a F grade with 6.9 tok/s and 4K context.
On Intel Arc Pro B50 16GB, Qwen 3 30B A3B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context at Q3_K_S quantization. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/qwen-3-30b-a3b-on-arc-pro-b50-16gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| Medium |
| F0 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 18.6 GB | Medium | F0 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 22.0 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 25.0 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 32.6 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 62.5 GB | Maximum | F0 |
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.
Often yes, if your goal is the easiest setup and the widest runtime support. Intel can offer attractive memory capacity, but CUDA still tends to win on tooling maturity, guides, kernels, and model coverage for local AI.