SmolLM 360M Instruct — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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SmolLM 360M Instruct is a 362M-parameter open language model from Hugging Face in the SmolLM family. It supports a context window of up to 2,048 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 0.60 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
7.8K downloads
84 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- Hugging Face
- Family
- SmolLM
- Parameters
- 362M
- Architecture
- LlamaForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 2,048 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 49,152
- Release Date
- 2024-07-15
- License
- Apache 2.0
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does SmolLM 360M Instruct Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_Kest. | 3.40 | 0.5 GB | — | 0.15 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_Mest. | 3.90 | 0.6 GB | — | 0.18 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_Mest. | 4.80 | 0.6 GB | — | 0.22 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_Mest. | 5.70 | 0.6 GB | — | 0.26 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_Kest. | 6.60 | 0.7 GB | — | 0.30 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0est. | 8.00 | 0.8 GB | — | 0.36 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 1.1 GB | — | 0.72 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 SmolLM 360M Instruct?
Q4_K_M · 0.6 GBSmolLM 360M Instruct (Q4_K_M) requires 0.6 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 1+ GB is recommended. 50 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomWhich Devices Can Run SmolLM 360M Instruct?
Q4_K_M · 0.6 GB59 devices with unified memory can run SmolLM 360M Instruct, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomRelated Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does SmolLM 360M Instruct need?
SmolLM 360M Instruct requires 0.6 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 1.1 GB at BF16.
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 362M × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 0.2 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.4 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M0.6 GB- What's the best quantization for SmolLM 360M Instruct?
For SmolLM 360M Instruct, Q4_K_M (0.6 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (0.6 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 0.5 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
Q2_K0.5 GBQ4_K_M ★0.6 GBQ5_K_M0.6 GBQ6_K0.7 GBQ8_00.8 GBBF161.1 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run SmolLM 360M Instruct on a Mac?
SmolLM 360M Instruct requires at least 0.5 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 SmolLM 360M Instruct locally?
Yes — SmolLM 360M Instruct can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 0.6 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is SmolLM 360M Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, SmolLM 360M Instruct can reach ~7333 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~1092 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 ÷ 0.6 × 0.65 = ~8667 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (0.6 GB)
~8667 tok/s~1092 tok/s~8667 tok/s~7333 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of SmolLM 360M Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 0.22 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 0.72 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 0.15 GB.
- Which GPUs can run SmolLM 360M Instruct?
50 consumer GPUs can run SmolLM 360M Instruct at Q4_K_M (0.6 GB). Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. 50 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
- Which devices can run SmolLM 360M Instruct?
59 devices with unified memory can run SmolLM 360M Instruct at Q4_K_M (0.6 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Apple iPhone 17 Pro, Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025, 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.