# Can I run Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3070 Ti? | What Can I Run AI

> No. Gemma 3 12B needs about 9.5 GB at Q4_K_M, and RTX 3070 Ti has 8.0 GB usable. What to run instead.

Source: https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-3070-ti/

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**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](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/), 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

[gemma-3-12b-it](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/gemma-3-12b-it/) · [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/hardware/rtx-3070-ti/) · [Everything this machine runs](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/what-can-i-run/rtx-3070-ti/) · [Q4 vs Q8 vs FP16](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/quantization/)

## 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No speed estimate: Gemma 3 12B does not fit in the 8.0 GB this machine can use, so we do not publish a tokens/sec figure for CPU offload.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](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/vram-calculator/) to explore longer chats.

## What to do instead

* Run [Qwen3-8B](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-8b/rtx-3070-ti/) 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](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/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](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/).
* 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](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/best-gpu-for/gemma-3/) and the [gemma-3-12b-it model page](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/gemma-3-12b-it/).

## Other hardware for Gemma 3 12B

* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3060 12GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-3060-12gb/)Fits
* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 3080](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-3080-10gb/)Tight
* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4060 Ti 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-4060-ti-16gb/)Tight
* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4070 Ti Super](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-4070-ti-super/)Tight
* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 4090](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-4090/)Fits
* [Gemma 3 12B on an RTX 5070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/rtx-5070-ti/)Tight

## Other models on an RTX 3070 Ti

* [Qwen3-32B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-32b/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3-30B-A3B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-30b-a3b/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3.8-27B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3.8-27b/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 4 31B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-4-31b-it/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [gpt-oss-20b on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gpt-oss-20b/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’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.

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