NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 is a 31.6B-parameter open language model from NVIDIA in the Nemotron family. It supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 19.32 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
188.3K downloads
21 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- NVIDIA
- Family
- Nemotron
- Parameters
- 31.6B
- Architecture
- NemotronHForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 262,144 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 131,072
- Release Date
- 2026-08-05
- License
- Other
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How Much VRAM Does NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_Kest. | 3.40 | 13.8 GB | 22.9 GB | 13.42 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_Mest. | 3.90 | 15.8 GB | 24.9 GB | 15.39 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_Mest. | 4.80 | 19.3 GB | 28.4 GB | 18.95 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_Mest. | 5.70 | 22.9 GB | 32.0 GB | 22.50 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_Kest. | 6.60 | 26.4 GB | 35.5 GB | 26.05 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0est. | 8.00 | 31.9 GB | 41.0 GB | 31.58 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
| BF16 | 16.00 | 63.5 GB | 72.6 GB | 63.16 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 NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
Q4_K_M · 19.3 GBNVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 (Q4_K_M) requires 19.3 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 26+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 9.1 GB, bringing total usage to 28.4 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 NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB41 devices with unified memory can run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomDecent
— Enough memory, may be tightWhere to Download NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16
Community quantizations of this model — GGUF for llama.cpp, Ollama, and LM Studio, plus AWQ/MLX variants where available.
Related Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 need?
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 requires 19.3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 63.5 GB at BF16. Full 262K context adds up to 9.1 GB (28.4 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 31.6B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 18.9 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.4 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 9.5 GB (at full 262K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M19.3 GBQ4_K_M + full context28.4 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
Yes, at Q5_K_M (22.9 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (26.4 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
- What's the best quantization for NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
For NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16, Q4_K_M (19.3 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (22.9 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 13.8 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
Q2_K13.8 GBQ4_K_M ★19.3 GBQ5_K_M22.9 GBQ6_K26.4 GBQ8_031.9 GBBF1663.5 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 on a Mac?
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 requires at least 13.8 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 NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 locally?
Yes — NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 19.3 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
At Q4_K_M, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 can reach ~93 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~177 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 ÷ 19.3 × 0.65 = ~311 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (19.3 GB)
~311 tok/s~177 tok/s~311 tok/s~291 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 18.95 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 63.16 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 13.42 GB.
- Which GPUs can run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
8 consumer GPUs can run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 at Q4_K_M (19.3 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 NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16?
41 devices with unified memory can run NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Base BF16 at Q4_K_M (19.3 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.