llmrun

Gemma 4 31B IT vs Qwen3.6 27B

Qwen3.6 27B leads llmrun Score 111.4 to 106.1 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M.

Model A · Google

Gemma 4 31B IT
106.1llmrun Score

31.3B · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Mar 2026

VisionFunctions

Model B · Alibaba

Qwen3.6 27B
111.4llmrun Score

27.8B · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2026

VisionFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3.6 27B if you want…

  • Higher llmrun Score

    111.4 vs 106.1, ranges overlap

  • Stronger at science

    111.1 vs 104.8

  • Fits a 12 GB GPU

    IQ3_XXS · 12 GB; Gemma 4 31B IT needs 11.5 GB at its smallest quant

Gemma 4 31B IT: no clear edge over Qwen3.6 27B in the data we have.

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 11.5 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 8.8 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

IQ2_XXS · ~23 tok/s

11.5 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 27B

IQ3_XXS · ~20 tok/s

12 GB · up to 16Kbetter quant

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

IQ3_XS · ~20 tok/s

15.8 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q3_K_L · ~19 tok/s

15.4 GB · up to 16K

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~32 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 32K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~38 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 64Kfaster

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~57 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 64K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~67 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~29 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~4 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 64K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 128Kfaster

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 256K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 4 31B IT

Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 256K

Qwen3.6 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Overall

Gemma 4 31B IT

106.1103–110

Qwen3.6 27B

111.4108–115

Coding

Gemma 4 31B IT

107.6102–113

Qwen3.6 27B

102.384–121

Math

Gemma 4 31B IT

no data

Qwen3.6 27B

113.7108–119

Science

Gemma 4 31B IT

104.897–113

Qwen3.6 27B

111.1102–120

Reasoning

Gemma 4 31B IT

109.3101–117

Qwen3.6 27B

106.499–114

Gemma 4 31B IT · #35 of 92 open models · #4 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Qwen3.6 27B · #20 of 92 open models · #2 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

7 shared boards: Gemma 4 31B IT leads 4, Qwen3.6 27B leads 3 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

GPQA Diamond

Gemma 4 31B IT

75.8%#27/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

85.9%#18/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

AIME 2024/2025

Gemma 4 31B IT

73.3%#25/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

91.1%#11/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

SciCode

Gemma 4 31B IT

43.4%#23/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

37.3%#35/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Chess Puzzles

Gemma 4 31B IT

5.0%#29/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

22.0%#6/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

CritPt

Gemma 4 31B IT

1.4%#29/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

0.9%#36/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

DTBench

Gemma 4 31B IT

82.7%#19/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

78.1%#26/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

LMCA

Gemma 4 31B IT

39.3%#9/54 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Qwen3.6 27B

34.5%#15/54 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

11 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Gemma 4 31B IT (6)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

Q2_K

Gemma 4 31B IT

14.9 GB12.6 GB file

32K 18.4 GB · 128K 31.0 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

12.6 GB12.1 GB file

32K 13.9 GB · 128K 19.3 GB

Q3_K_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

15.3 GB13.2 GB file

32K 18.7 GB · 128K 31.4 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

12.9 GB12.4 GB file

32K 14.2 GB · 128K 19.6 GB

Q3_K_M

Gemma 4 31B IT

16.9 GB14.7 GB file

32K 20.3 GB · 128K 33.0 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

14.3 GB13.6 GB file

32K 15.6 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

Q4_0

Gemma 4 31B IT

17.3 GB17.3 GB file

32K 20.7 GB · 128K 33.4 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

14.6 GB15.8 GB file

32K 16.0 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Q4_K_M

Gemma 4 31B IT

20.4 GB18.3 GB file

32K 23.8 GB · 128K 36.5 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

17.4 GB16.8 GB file

32K 18.8 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Q5_K_M

Gemma 4 31B IT

23.9 GB21.7 GB file

32K 27.3 GB · 128K 40.0 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

20.5 GB19.5 GB file

32K 21.9 GB · 128K 27.3 GB

Q6_K

Gemma 4 31B IT

27.4 GB25.2 GB file

32K 30.9 GB · 128K 43.5 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

23.7 GB22.5 GB file

32K 25.0 GB · 128K 30.4 GB

Q8_0

Gemma 4 31B IT

32.9 GB~31.3 GB file

32K 36.3 GB · 128K 49.0 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

28.5 GB28.6 GB file

32K 29.9 GB · 128K 35.2 GB

19 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Gemma 4 31B IT

10.2 GB8.5 GB file

32K 13.7 GB · 128K 26.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

8.4 GB9.4 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K 15.1 GB

IQ2_XS

Gemma 4 31B IT

11.0 GB11.5 GB file

32K 14.4 GB · 128K 27.1 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

9.1 GB10.2 GB file

32K 10.4 GB · 128K 15.8 GB

IQ2_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

11.4 GB12.1 GB file

32K 14.8 GB · 128K 27.5 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

9.4 GB10.5 GB file

32K 10.8 GB · 128K 16.1 GB

IQ2_M

Gemma 4 31B IT

12.2 GB10.8 GB file

32K 15.6 GB · 128K 28.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

10.1 GB10.8 GB file

32K 11.5 GB · 128K 16.8 GB

IQ3_XXS

Gemma 4 31B IT

13.7 GB11.8 GB file

32K 17.2 GB · 128K 29.9 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

11.5 GB12.0 GB file

32K 12.9 GB · 128K 18.2 GB

Q2_K_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

14.1 GB11.0 GB file

32K 17.6 GB · 128K 30.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

not listed

IQ3_XS

Gemma 4 31B IT

14.5 GB13.8 GB file

32K 18.0 GB · 128K 30.6 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

12.2 GB13.5 GB file

32K 13.6 GB · 128K 18.9 GB

IQ3_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

14.9 GB13.8 GB file

32K 18.4 GB · 128K 31.0 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

not listed

IQ3_M

Gemma 4 31B IT

15.7 GB15.1 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 31.8 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

13.3 GB14.1 GB file

32K 14.6 GB · 128K 20.0 GB

Q3_K_L

Gemma 4 31B IT

17.7 GB16.8 GB file

32K 21.1 GB · 128K 33.8 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

15.0 GB15.5 GB file

32K 16.3 GB · 128K 21.7 GB

IQ4_XS

Gemma 4 31B IT

18.4 GB16.4 GB file

32K 21.9 GB · 128K 34.6 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

15.7 GB15.4 GB file

32K 17.0 GB · 128K 22.4 GB

IQ4_NL

Gemma 4 31B IT

19.2 GB17.3 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 35.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

16.4 GB16.1 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_1

Gemma 4 31B IT

19.2 GB19.1 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 35.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

16.4 GB17.3 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_K_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

19.2 GB17.4 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 35.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

16.4 GB15.9 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_K_L

Gemma 4 31B IT

20.8 GB19.9 GB file

32K 24.2 GB · 128K 36.9 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

17.8 GB18.9 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 24.5 GB

Q5_0

Gemma 4 31B IT

21.2 GB21.3 GB file

32K 24.6 GB · 128K 37.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

not listed

Q5_K_S

Gemma 4 31B IT

23.1 GB21.1 GB file

32K 26.6 GB · 128K 39.2 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

19.9 GB19.0 GB file

32K 21.2 GB · 128K 26.6 GB

Q5_K_L

Gemma 4 31B IT

24.3 GB23.0 GB file

32K 27.7 GB · 128K 40.4 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

20.9 GB21.7 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 27.6 GB

BF16

Gemma 4 31B IT

64.2 GB~62.5 GB file

32K 67.6 GB · 128K 80.3 GB

Qwen3.6 27B

56.3 GB53.8 GB file

32K 57.7 GB · 128K 63.0 GB

How to run each

Specifications

Specifications of Gemma 4 31B IT and Qwen3.6 27B
SpecGemma 4 31B ITQwen3.6 27B
PublisherGoogleAlibaba
Parameters31.3B27.8B
ArchitectureGemma4ForConditionalGenerationQwen3_5ForConditionalGeneration
Context256K tokens256K tokens
ModalitiesVision, Function-callingVision, Function-calling
LicenseApache 2.0Apache 2.0
ReleasedMar 2026Apr 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Gemma 4 31B IT or Qwen3.6 27B?

Qwen3.6 27B leads llmrun Score 111.4 to 106.1 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M. Choose Qwen3.6 27B for higher llmrun Score and stronger at science.

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 4 31B IT or Qwen3.6 27B?

At Q4_K_M, Gemma 4 31B IT requires 20.4 GB while Qwen3.6 27B needs 17.4 GB, making Qwen3.6 27B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 32 tok/s for Gemma 4 31B IT (Q4_K_M) and 38 tok/s for Qwen3.6 27B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3.6 27B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Gemma 4 31B IT or Qwen3.6 27B on a 16 GB GPU?

Gemma 4 31B IT fits at IQ3_XS; Qwen3.6 27B fits at Q3_K_L.

Which has a longer context window, Gemma 4 31B IT or Qwen3.6 27B?

Gemma 4 31B IT supports 262,144 tokens and Qwen3.6 27B supports 262,144 tokens.

Gemma 4 31B IT vs Qwen3.6 27B — VRAM & GPU Comparison | llmrun