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Allen AIOLMoOlmo3ForCausalLM

Olmo 3 7B Instruct — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility

ChatFunctions

OLMo 3 7B Instruct is an instruction-tuned language model from the Allen Institute for AI, built as part of their Open Language Model initiative. Like all OLMo releases, it comes with fully open training data, code, and intermediate checkpoints, setting a high standard for reproducibility and scientific transparency in the LLM space. At roughly 7 billion parameters, this model delivers competitive performance on instruction following, reasoning, and general knowledge tasks while remaining runnable on consumer GPUs with 8 GB or more of VRAM. It is an excellent choice for users who value open science and want a capable, well-documented model for local chat and assistant applications.

7.3B params · dense66K contextApache 2.0191.6K downloads159 likes13.6K quant downloads
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Runs great on a 24 GB GPU

Runs from8 GB Q4_K_M · 8KBest on24 GB Q4_K_M · ~114 tok/s · 64KMacs from16 GB Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s

Apache 2.0

Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB

Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate

Run Olmo 3 7B Instruct

One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.Each way opens a step-by-step guide for your OS and quant.

Recommended

Ollama
one command · needs Ollama installed
$ollama run olmo-3:7b-instruct

Q4_K_M fits fully on the RTX 4090 · 15.6 GB free · 16K context

Download: Olmo-3-7B-Instruct-Q4_K_M.gguf4.47 GBunsloth

install, OS, other quants

Ways to runOther ways

each opens step-by-step

Run in cloud

Your own private copy · Q4_K_M · 24 GB GPU

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How Much VRAM Does Olmo 3 7B Instruct Need?

Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.

QuantizationVRAM+32KOn RTX 4090 (reference)
4.5 GB9.3 GB2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvementsFits: 64K context · ~146 tok/s
4.6 GB9.4 GB3-bit small — 3-bit small quantizationFits: 64K context · ~143 tok/s
4.9 GB9.8 GB3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantizationFits: 64K context · ~133 tok/s
5.0 GB9.9 GB4-bit · legacy — 4-bit legacy quantizationFits: 64K context · ~131 tok/s
5.8 GB10.6 GB4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spotFits: 64K context · ~114 tok/s
6.6 GB11.4 GB5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoffFits: 64K context · ~100 tok/s
7.4 GB12.2 GB6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good qualityFits: 64K context · ~89 tok/s
8.7 GB13.5 GB8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-losslessFits: 64K context · ~76 tok/s

Selected Q4_K_M

4-bit medium quantization

8.4GBat 16K context

Weights
4.4 GB
KV cache
3.8 GB
Overhead
0.3 GB

Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 15.6 GB free · ~114 tok/s

≥50 tok/s needs ≥442 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~203, RTX 3090 Ti ~114

Which Hardware Can Run Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

Q4_K_M · 5.8 GB

Olmo 3 7B Instruct (Q4_K_M) requires 5.8 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 8+ GB is recommended. Using the full 66K context window can add up to 9.1 GB, bringing total usage to 14.9 GB. 52 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. 151 devices with unified memory can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super).

By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
8 GB · RTX 4060Q4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~31 tok/s · 8Ktight8 GB tier →
12 GB · RTX 3060 12GBQ4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~41 tok/s · 32K12 GB tier →
16 GB · RTX 5060 Ti 16GBQ4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~51 tok/s · 64K16 GB tier →
24 GB · RTX 4090referenceQ4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~114 tok/s · 64K24 GB tier →
Mac 32 GB · Mac Mini M4Q4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~15 tok/s · 64KMacs →
Mac 64 GB · Mac Studio M4 MaxQ4_K_M · 8.4 GB · ~67 tok/s · 64KMacs →

Alternatives to Olmo 3 7B Instruct

OLMo family · 20 models →

Similar models

6
ModelScoreVRAMtok/sWhy it is similar
Qwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba65.15.8 GB~131same size
Phi Mini MoE InstructMicrosoft—5.4 GB~239same size
Gemma 3n E4B ITGoogle—7.7 GB~127same size
Falcon H1 7B InstructTII UAE—6.3 GB~130same size
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7BDeepSeek—5.8 GB~131same size
Eurus 2 7B PRIMEPRIME-RL—5.1 GB~131same size
Fine-tunes & variants(2)

Specifications

Publisher
Allen AI
Family
OLMo
Parameters
7.3B
Architecture
Olmo3ForCausalLM
Context Length
65,536 tokens
Vocabulary Size
100,278
Release Date
2025-11-19
License
Apache 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Olmo 3 7B Instruct need?

Olmo 3 7B Instruct requires 5.8 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 16.0 GB at BF16. Full 66K context adds up to 9.1 GB (14.9 GB total).

VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead

Weights = 7.3B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 4.4 GB

KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 1.3 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)

Fit ratings and hardware model lists check this model with room for a 16K-token context, which needs a little more memory.

KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 10.5 GB (at full 66K context)

VRAM usage by quantization

5.8 GB
14.9 GB

Learn more about VRAM estimation →

What's the best quantization for Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

For Olmo 3 7B Instruct, Q4_K_M (5.8 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q4_K_L (5.8 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 3.4 GB.

VRAM requirement by quantization

IQ2_XXS
3.4 GB
IQ3_XS
4.4 GB
Q3_K_L
5.1 GB
Q4_K_M ★
5.8 GB
Q4_K_L
5.8 GB
BF16
16.0 GB

★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.

Learn more about quantization →

Can I run Olmo 3 7B Instruct on a Mac?

Yes — Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB) and 133 other Macs can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 5.8 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).

Can I run Olmo 3 7B Instruct locally?

Yes — Olmo 3 7B Instruct can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.

How fast is Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

At Q4_K_M, Olmo 3 7B Instruct can reach ~835 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~114 tok/s. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.

tok/s = (bandwidth GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency

Example: NVIDIA B200 → 8000 ÷ 5.75 × 0.65 = ~904 tok/s

Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (5.8 GB)

~904 tok/s
~114 tok/s
~904 tok/s
~835 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the download size of Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

At Q4_K_M, the download is about 4.38 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 14.60 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 2.01 GB.

Which GPUs can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

52 consumer GPUs can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct at Q4_K_M. Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, AMD Radeon RX 7600. 40 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.

Which devices can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct?

151 devices with unified memory can run Olmo 3 7B Instruct at Q4_K_M (5.8 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Beelink GTR9 Pro (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.