Higgs Llama 3 70B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Higgs Llama 3 70B is a 70.6B-parameter open language model from bosonai in the Llama 3 family. It supports a context window of up to 8,192 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 43.30 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Higgs Llama 3 70B runs on a 48 GB+ Mac or a workstation GPU
Best local pick → Mac Studio M5 Max (48 GB) · Q4_K_M · 45.3 GB · ~10 tok/s
Macs from 48 GB (Q4_K_M · ~10 tok/s)
Other
Not set up for it?
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Higgs Llama 3 70B
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve bosonai/Higgs-Llama-3-70B --max-model-len 8192vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on A100 80GB (34 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~31 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $10.51
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Higgs Llama 3 70B Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31.0 GB | — | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Does not fit: needs 31 GB | |
| 35.4 GB | — | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Does not fit: needs 35.4 GB | |
| 43.3 GB | — | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Does not fit: needs 43.3 GB | |
| 51.2 GB | — | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Does not fit: needs 51.2 GB | |
| 59.2 GB | — | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Does not fit: needs 59.2 GB | |
| 71.5 GB | — | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Does not fit: needs 71.5 GB | |
| 142.1 GB | — | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Does not fit: needs 142.1 GB |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization45.3GBat 8K context
- Weights
- 42.3 GB
- KV cache
- 2.7 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Doesn't fit RTX 4090 (reference) · needs 21.3 GB more
Which Hardware Can Run Higgs Llama 3 70B?
Q4_K_M · 43.3 GBHiggs Llama 3 70B (Q4_K_M) requires 43.3 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 57+ GB is recommended. Using the full 8K context window can add up to 2.0 GB, bringing total usage to 45.3 GB. No consumer GPU has enough memory. 67 devices with unified memory can run Higgs Llama 3 70B, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Pro M2 Ultra (64 GB).
48 GB
48 GB tier →fits · 2.7 GB free · up to 8K ctx
2 Mac classes · 1 device family
M5 Max48 GB~10Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (48 GB)M5 Pro48 GB~5Simulate output on Mac Mini M5 Pro (48 GB)Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)~3Simulate output on Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
How good is Higgs Llama 3 70B?
llmrun Score blends public benchmark boards into one number; 100 = the average open model.
Not enough data yet for an llmrun Score.
A Score needs results on enough independent boards. How the Composite Score is built
Benchmarks
This is the single board showing results for this model; badges show who ran the test.
- MMLU-Pro
TIGER-LabIndependent
Independent63.2%
#52/145 open
Alternatives to Higgs Llama 3 70B
Llama 3 family · 64 models →Similar models
6| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B A9B BF16NVIDIA | — | 54.2 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| Qwen2.5 VL 72B InstructAlibaba | — | 49.7 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| Qwen2 VL 72B InstructAlibaba | — | 49.7 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| Qwen1.5 72B ChatAlibaba | — | 86.6 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| CodeLlama 70B Instruct HFMeta | — | 23.2 GB | ~29 | same size |
| StableBeluga2Stability AI | — | 23.5 GB | ~29 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- bosonai
- Family
- Llama 3
- Parameters
- 70.6B
- Architecture
- LlamaForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 8,192 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 128,256
- Release Date
- 2024-06-05
- License
- Other
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Higgs Llama 3 70B need?
Higgs Llama 3 70B requires 43.3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 142.1 GB at BF16. Full 8K context adds up to 2.0 GB (45.3 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 70.6B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 42.3 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 1 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 ≈ 3 GB (at full 8K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run Higgs Llama 3 70B?
Yes, at Q2_K (31.0 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q3_K_M (35.4 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB.
What's the best quantization for Higgs Llama 3 70B?
For Higgs Llama 3 70B, Q4_K_M (43.3 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (51.2 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 31.0 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run Higgs Llama 3 70B on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Studio M5 Max (48 GB) and 55 other Macs can run Higgs Llama 3 70B. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 43.3 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run Higgs Llama 3 70B locally?
Yes — Higgs Llama 3 70B can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Higgs Llama 3 70B?
At Q4_K_M, Higgs Llama 3 70B can reach ~111 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. 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 ÷ 43.3 × 0.65 = ~120 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Higgs Llama 3 70B?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 42.33 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 141.11 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 29.99 GB.
Which GPUs can run Higgs Llama 3 70B?
No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run Higgs Llama 3 70B at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.
Which devices can run Higgs Llama 3 70B?
67 devices with unified memory can run Higgs Llama 3 70B at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB), including ASUS Ascent GX10, Beelink GTR9 Pro (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), GMKtec EVO-X2 (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.