Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B is a 70.6B-parameter open language model from dphn 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.
9.0K downloads
57 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- dphn
- Family
- Llama 3
- Parameters
- 70.6B
- Architecture
- LlamaForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 8,192 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 128,258
- Release Date
- 2024-05-22
- License
- Llama 3 Community
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_Kest. | 3.40 | 31.0 GB | 33.0 GB | 29.99 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_Mest. | 3.90 | 35.4 GB | 37.4 GB | 34.39 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_Mest. | 4.80 | 43.3 GB | 45.3 GB | 42.33 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_Mest. | 5.70 | 51.2 GB | 53.3 GB | 50.27 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_Kest. | 6.60 | 59.2 GB | 61.2 GB | 58.21 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0est. | 8.00 | 71.5 GB | 73.5 GB | 70.55 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 142.1 GB | 144.1 GB | 141.11 GB | Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training |
est.= calculated VRAM estimate; no published GGUF file found for that quantization yet. Other rows are verified against real community uploads.
Which GPUs Can Run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
Q4_K_M · 43.3 GBDolphin 2.9.1 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 single GPU has enough memory — multi-GPU or cluster setups are needed.
Which Devices Can Run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
Q4_K_M · 43.3 GB27 devices with unified memory can run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Studio M4 Max (64 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroom
Decent
— Enough memory, may be tightRelated Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B need?
Dolphin 2.9.1 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)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 3 GB (at full 8K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M43.3 GBQ4_K_M + full context45.3 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run Dolphin 2.9.1 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 Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
For Dolphin 2.9.1 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
Q2_K31.0 GBQ4_K_M ★43.3 GBQ5_K_M51.2 GBQ6_K59.2 GBQ8_071.5 GBBF16142.1 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B on a Mac?
Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B requires at least 31.0 GB at Q2_K, which exceeds the unified memory of most consumer Macs. You would need a Mac Studio or Mac Pro with a high-memory configuration.
- Can I run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B locally?
Yes — Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 43.3 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
At Q4_K_M, Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B can reach ~102 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)
~120 tok/s~120 tok/s~102 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Dolphin 2.9.1 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 Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.
- Which devices can run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B?
27 devices with unified memory can run Dolphin 2.9.1 Llama 3 70B at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB), including ASUS Ascent GX10, Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), 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.