Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 or Codegemma 7B IT?

At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Codegemma 7B IT needs 18.8 GB, so Codegemma 7B IT is the lighter option to run locally.

What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Codegemma 7B IT?

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Codegemma 7B IT is a 8.5B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 vs Codegemma 7B IT

Side-by-side comparison of VRAM requirements, quantization, context length, and hardware compatibility.

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2

DreamFast · 12.2B

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Codegemma 7B IT

Google · 8.5B

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Specifications

	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2	Codegemma 7B IT
Parameters	12.2B	8.5B
Context	131K	—
Architecture	Gemma3ForConditionalGeneration	—
License	Gemma Terms	Gemma Terms
Downloads	8.6K	6.8K
Released	Mar 2026	Aug 2024

VRAM by Quantization: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 vs Codegemma 7B IT

Quantization	Bits	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 VRAM	Codegemma 7B IT VRAM
BF16	16.00	25.4 GB	18.8 GB

Verdict

Codegemma 7B IT needs less VRAM at BF16 (18.8 GB vs 25.4 GB), so it fits on smaller GPUs. Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is the more widely downloaded of the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 or Codegemma 7B IT?: At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Codegemma 7B IT needs 18.8 GB, so Codegemma 7B IT is the lighter option to run locally.
What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Codegemma 7B IT?: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Codegemma 7B IT is a 8.5B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.