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Gemma 3 12B (12B parameters) requires approximately 14.0 GB of VRAM with Q4_K_M quantization. For the best balance of quality and speed, we recommend hardware with at least 17 GB of VRAM.
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— copy & paste to run locallyCopy-paste commands to run Gemma 3 12B on your machine.
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ollama run gemma3:12bQuick specs
About this model
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Inference speed
Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Gemma 3 12B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~168 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 | 168.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 109.9 | Fits |
RX 7900 XTX 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 99.1 | Fits |
| RTX 3090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 94.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4080 Super 16GB | 16 GB | Q4_K_M | 87.6 | Tight |
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB | 256 GB | Q4_K_M | 60.5 | Fits |
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 50.4 | Fits |
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 47.8 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 43.4 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 34.4 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 32.9 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 31.6 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB | 48 GB | Q4_K_M | 26.5 | Fits |
| RTX 4070 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 21.5 | Heavy offload |
| RTX 3060 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 13.1 | Heavy offload |
| RTX 4060 8GB | 8 GB | Q4_K_M | 6.4 | Too big |
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.
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Quantization
How much VRAM Gemma 3 12B (12B) needs at each GGUF quant, and whether it fits a 24 GB card (RTX 4090 / 3090). The recommended Q4_K_M uses ~7.3 GB — about 43% less VRAM than Q8_0, at a small quality cost.
| Quant | Bits | VRAM (weights) | Quality | Fits 24 GB? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 2 | 4.7 GB | Low | Fits |
| Q3_K_S | 3 | 5.9 GB | Low | Fits |
| NVFP4 | 4 | 6.7 GB | Medium | Fits |
| Q4_K_Mrecommended | 4 | 7.3 GB | Medium | Fits |
| Q5_K_M | 5 | 8.6 GB | High | Fits |
| Q6_K | 6 | 9.8 GB | High | Fits |
| Q8_0 | 8 | 12.8 GB | Very High | Tight |
| F16 | 16 | 24.6 GB | Maximum | Too big |
VRAM shown is quantized weights only; add ~1–3 GB runtime overhead plus KV cache for your context length. Lower quants trade quality for memory — Q4_K_M is the usual sweet spot; Q2/Q3 only when you must fit a bigger model.
Quality benchmarks
Coding
Reasoning
General
Source: official · 2025-03-12
Hardware compatibility
Computing compatibility...
Memory breakdown
Frequently asked questions
Gemma 3 12B (12B parameters) requires approximately 14.0 GB of VRAM with Q4_K_M quantization. Lower quantizations like Q4_K_M use less memory but may reduce quality.
Yes, RX 7600 XT 16GB can run Gemma 3 12B with a compatibility score of 78/100. It provides 16 GB of memory and achieves approximately 18.2 tokens per second.
The recommended quantization for Gemma 3 12B is Q4_K_M, which offers the best balance between model quality and memory efficiency. Higher quantizations preserve more quality but require more VRAM.
The top recommended hardware for Gemma 3 12B: RTX A4500 20GB (score: 86/100), RTX 3090 24GB (score: 86/100), RTX 3090 Ti 24GB (score: 86/100). These provide the best combination of memory, bandwidth, and compute for running this model locally.
Yes, Gemma 3 12B is well-suited for chat as well as coding. It was designed with these use cases in mind.
See also