Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 or Vaultgemma 1B?

At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Vaultgemma 1B needs 2.3 GB, so Vaultgemma 1B is the lighter option to run locally.

What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Vaultgemma 1B?

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Vaultgemma 1B is a 1.0B 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 Vaultgemma 1B

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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Vaultgemma 1B

Google · 1.0B

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Specifications

	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2	Vaultgemma 1B
Parameters	12.2B	1.0B
Context	131K	—
Architecture	Gemma3ForConditionalGeneration	—
License	Gemma Terms	Gemma Terms
Downloads	8.6K	4.2K
Released	Mar 2026	Sep 2025

VRAM by Quantization: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 vs Vaultgemma 1B

Quantization	Bits	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 VRAM	Vaultgemma 1B VRAM
BF16	16.00	25.4 GB	2.3 GB

Verdict

Vaultgemma 1B needs less VRAM at BF16 (2.3 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 Vaultgemma 1B?: At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Vaultgemma 1B needs 2.3 GB, so Vaultgemma 1B is the lighter option to run locally.
What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Vaultgemma 1B?: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Vaultgemma 1B is a 1.0B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.