HomeCan I run it?Gemma 3 12BGemma 3 12B on an RTX 3070 Ti
No. Gemma 3 12B at Q4_K_M needs about 9.5 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has 8.0 GB usable at a ~4k context.
Can I run Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3070 Ti?
Gemma 3 12B at Q4_K_M needs about 9.5 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has 8.0 GB usable. That figure is 8 GB of VRAM on the spec sheet, of which 8.0 GB is usable for weights and cache, at 608 GB/s memory bandwidth. Google’s mid-small Gemma 3, sized for 12–16 GB cards that want more than a 4B or 8B. These are estimates from our formula, not measured benchmarks.
- Quant that fits
- None of Q4, Q8 or FP16 needs 9.5 GB
- Memory needed
- 9.5 GB at Q4_K_M, ~4k context
- Usable VRAM
- 8.0 GB of 8 GB VRAM
- Est. tokens/sec
- n/a does not fit
Memory at each quant
| Quant | Need vs 8.0 GB | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 9.5 GB | Q4Won’t fit |
| Q8_0 | 15.9 GB | Q8Won’t fit |
| FP16 | 29.0 GB | FP16Won’t fit |
Estimated tokens per second
No speed estimate: Gemma 3 12B does not fit in the 8.0 GB this machine can use, so we do not publish a tokens/sec figure for CPU offload.
Context headroom
We do not have a published KV config for this model, so the memory need is the ~4k-context estimate only. Use the VRAM calculator to explore longer chats.
What to do instead
- Run Qwen3-8B instead (6.7 GB at Q4). It is a different model, not a drop-in, but it does fit this machine.
- To hold Gemma 3 12B at Q4, you need about 9.5 GB. The GeForce RTX 3080 10GB has 10.0 GB usable ($699 list price).
- Our estimate is only 1.5 GB over this machine’s usable memory, so a tighter quant or a shorter context may work in practice. We still mark it as a no under the published formula.
- CPU offload can load the weights anyway, but it is slow. We do not publish an offload tokens/sec figure.
- See the best GPU for this model family and the gemma-3-12b-it model page.
Other hardware for Gemma 3 12B
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3060 12GBFits
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3080Tight
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4060 Ti 16GBTight
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4070 Ti SuperTight
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4090Fits
- Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 5070 TiTight
Other models on an RTX 3070 Ti
- Qwen3-32B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- Qwen3-30B-A3B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- Qwen3.8-27B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- Gemma 4 31B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- gpt-oss-20b on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
Quick answers
- Can I run Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3070 Ti?
- No. Gemma 3 12B at Q4_K_M needs about 9.5 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has 8.0 GB usable.
- How much VRAM does Gemma 3 12B need?
- About 9.5 GB at Q4_K_M, 15.9 GB at Q8_0 and 29.0 GB at FP16, estimated for a ~4k context.
- How fast is Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3070 Ti?
- We do not estimate tokens/sec when the model does not fit. CPU offload is possible but slow.