Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
Chat
Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct is a 70-billion parameter chat model by NVIDIA, created by applying reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to Meta's Llama 3.1 70B base model. NVIDIA's Nemotron training pipeline focuses on improving helpfulness, accuracy, and response quality beyond the standard Llama instruction tuning. The model requires substantial VRAM for local inference, typically needing multi-GPU setups or high-end professional GPUs. In quantized formats it becomes accessible on workstation-class hardware. It is available in Hugging Face Transformers format and is supported by popular inference engines.
13.1K downloads
2.1K likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- NVIDIA
- Family
- Llama 3
- Parameters
- 70.6B
- Architecture
- LlamaForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 131,072 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 128,256
- Release Date
- 2024-10-12
- License
- Llama 3.1 Community
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 3.40 | 31.0 GB | 73.2 GB | 29.99 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_S | 3.50 | 31.8 GB | 74.1 GB | 30.87 GB | 3-bit small quantization |
| Q3_K_M | 3.90 | 35.4 GB | 77.6 GB | 34.39 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_0 | 4.00 | 36.3 GB | 78.5 GB | 35.28 GB | 4-bit legacy quantization |
| Q4_K_M | 4.80 | 43.3 GB | 85.6 GB | 42.33 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_M | 5.70 | 51.2 GB | 93.5 GB | 50.27 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_K | 6.60 | 59.2 GB | 101.5 GB | 58.21 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.00 | 71.5 GB | 113.8 GB | 70.55 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
Q4_K_M · 43.3 GBLlama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF (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 131K context window can add up to 42.3 GB, bringing total usage to 85.6 GB. No single GPU has enough memory — multi-GPU or cluster setups are needed.
Which Devices Can Run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
Q4_K_M · 43.3 GB27 devices with unified memory can run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Studio M4 Max (64 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroom
Decent
— Enough memory, may be tightWhere to Download Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF
Community quantizations of this model — GGUF for llama.cpp, Ollama, and LM Studio, plus AWQ/MLX variants where available.
Benchmarks
Benchmark details →Related Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF need?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF requires 43.3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 142.1 GB at BF16. Full 131K context adds up to 42.3 GB (85.6 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 ≈ 43.3 GB (at full 131K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M43.3 GBQ4_K_M + full context85.6 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
Yes, at IQ2_S (23.0 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like IQ2_M (24.8 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
- What's the best quantization for Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
For Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF, Q4_K_M (43.3 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q4_K_L (44.2 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 20.4 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
IQ2_XXS20.4 GBIQ3_XS30.1 GBQ4_036.3 GBQ4_K_M ★43.3 GBQ4_K_L44.2 GBBF16142.1 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF on a Mac?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF requires at least 20.4 GB at IQ2_XXS, 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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF locally?
Yes — Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF 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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
At Q4_K_M, Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF 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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 42.33 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 141.11 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 19.40 GB.
- Which GPUs can run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF at Q4_K_M (43.3 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.
- Which devices can run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF?
27 devices with unified memory can run Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct HF 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.