Granite 4.1 30B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
Chat
Granite 4.1 30B is a 28.9B-parameter open language model from IBM in the Granite family. It supports a context window of up to 131,072 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 18.16 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
27.5K downloads
129 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- IBM
- Family
- Granite
- Parameters
- 28.9B
- Architecture
- GraniteForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 131,072 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 100,352
- Release Date
- 2026-04-06
- License
- Apache 2.0
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Granite 4.1 30B Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_Kest. | 3.40 | 13.1 GB | 46.9 GB | 12.27 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_Mest. | 3.90 | 14.9 GB | 48.7 GB | 14.07 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_Mest. | 4.80 | 18.2 GB | 52.0 GB | 17.32 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_Mest. | 5.70 | 21.4 GB | 55.2 GB | 20.57 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_Kest. | 6.60 | 24.6 GB | 58.5 GB | 23.81 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0est. | 8.00 | 29.7 GB | 63.5 GB | 28.87 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 58.6 GB | 92.4 GB | 57.73 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 Granite 4.1 30B?
Q4_K_M · 18.2 GBGranite 4.1 30B (Q4_K_M) requires 18.2 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 24+ GB is recommended. Using the full 131K context window can add up to 33.8 GB, bringing total usage to 52.0 GB. 8 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroom
Which Devices Can Run Granite 4.1 30B?
Q4_K_M · 18.2 GB41 devices with unified memory can run Granite 4.1 30B, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomDecent
— Enough memory, may be tightRelated Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Granite 4.1 30B need?
Granite 4.1 30B requires 18.2 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 58.6 GB at BF16. Full 131K context adds up to 33.8 GB (52.0 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 28.9B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 17.3 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.9 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 34.7 GB (at full 131K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M18.2 GBQ4_K_M + full context52.0 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Granite 4.1 30B?
Yes, at Q5_K_M (21.4 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (24.6 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
- What's the best quantization for Granite 4.1 30B?
For Granite 4.1 30B, Q4_K_M (18.2 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (21.4 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 13.1 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
Q2_K13.1 GBQ4_K_M ★18.2 GBQ5_K_M21.4 GBQ6_K24.6 GBQ8_029.7 GBBF1658.6 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Granite 4.1 30B on a Mac?
Granite 4.1 30B requires at least 13.1 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 Granite 4.1 30B locally?
Yes — Granite 4.1 30B can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 18.2 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Granite 4.1 30B?
At Q4_K_M, Granite 4.1 30B can reach ~242 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~36 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 ÷ 18.2 × 0.65 = ~286 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (18.2 GB)
~286 tok/s~36 tok/s~286 tok/s~242 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Granite 4.1 30B?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 17.32 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 57.73 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 12.27 GB.
- Which GPUs can run Granite 4.1 30B?
8 consumer GPUs can run Granite 4.1 30B at Q4_K_M (18.2 GB). Top options include NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. 1 GPU have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
- Which devices can run Granite 4.1 30B?
41 devices with unified memory can run Granite 4.1 30B at Q4_K_M (18.2 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Beelink GTR9 Pro (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.