Nemotron Flash 3B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Nemotron Flash 3B is a 2.7B-parameter open language model from NVIDIA in the Nemotron family. It supports a context window of up to 29,000 tokens. At BF16 it needs about 6.03 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Runs great on a 24 GB GPU
Runs from 8 GB (BF16 · 16K)Best on 24 GB (BF16 · ~109 tok/s · 28K)Macs from 16 GB (BF16 · ~23 tok/s)
Other
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Nemotron Flash 3B
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve nvidia/Nemotron-Flash-3B --max-model-len 16384vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on RTX 3060 12GB (4 GB headroom) · BF16
- Generation speed
- ~39 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.68
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Nemotron Flash 3B Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 GB | — | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Fits: 28K context · ~109 tok/s |
Selected BF16
Brain floating point 167.6GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 5.5 GB
- KV cache
- 1.8 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 16.4 GB free · ~109 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥463 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~193, RTX 3090 Ti ~109
Which Hardware Can Run Nemotron Flash 3B?
BF16 · 6.0 GBNemotron Flash 3B (BF16) requires 6.0 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 8+ GB is recommended. Using the full 29K context window can add up to 3.0 GB, bringing total usage to 9.0 GB. 52 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. 151 devices with unified memory can run Nemotron Flash 3B, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super).
≤ 11 GB
≤ 11 GB tier →fits · 0.4 GB free · up to 16K ctx
16 GPUs · 1 device family
RTX 3080~82Simulate output on RTX 3080RTX 2080 Ti~66Simulate output on RTX 2080 TiRTX 3070 Ti~66Simulate output on RTX 3070 TiOrin Nano~11Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super)20 GB
fits · 12.4 GB free · up to 28K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~80Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 24.4 GB free · up to 28K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~193Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~53Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~18Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~22Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~15Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at BF16
Alternatives to Nemotron Flash 3B
Nemotron family · 42 models →Similar models
6| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFM2.5 2.6BLiquid AI | — | 2.3 GB | ~321 | same size |
| Granite 3.0 2B InstructIBM | — | 2.2 GB | ~320 | same size |
| Gemma 2 2B ITGoogle | — | 2.5 GB | ~379 | same size |
| Phi 2Microsoft | — | 2.6 GB | ~248 | same size |
| Ouro 2.6B ThinkingByteDance | — | 12.1 GB | ~102 | same size |
| Mamba 2.8B HFState Spaces | — | 3.7 GB | ~358 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- NVIDIA
- Family
- Nemotron
- Parameters
- 2.7B
- Architecture
- NemotronFlashForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 29,000 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 131,072
- Release Date
- 2025-05-20
- License
- Other
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Nemotron Flash 3B need?
Nemotron Flash 3B requires 6.0 GB of VRAM at BF16. Full 29K context adds up to 3.0 GB (9.0 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 2.7B × 16 bits ÷ 8 = 5.5 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.5 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 ≈ 3.5 GB (at full 29K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Can I run Nemotron Flash 3B on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB) and 133 other Macs can run Nemotron Flash 3B. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At BF16 you need at least 6.0 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run Nemotron Flash 3B locally?
Yes — Nemotron Flash 3B can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Nemotron Flash 3B?
At BF16, Nemotron Flash 3B can reach ~796 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~109 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 ÷ 6.03 × 0.65 = ~862 tok/s
Estimated speed at BF16 (6.0 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Nemotron Flash 3B?
At BF16, the download is about 5.50 GB.
Which GPUs can run Nemotron Flash 3B?
52 consumer GPUs can run Nemotron Flash 3B at BF16. Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, AMD Radeon RX 7600. 40 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
Which devices can run Nemotron Flash 3B?
151 devices with unified memory can run Nemotron Flash 3B at BF16 (6.0 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, 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.