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NVIDIAQwen 3Qwen3MoeForCausalLM

Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility

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Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 is a 235.1B-parameter open language model from NVIDIA in the Qwen 3 family. It supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 141.55 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.

235.1B params · MoE22B active262K contextApache 2.0283 downloads29 likes

Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 runs on a 192 GB+ Mac or a datacenter GPU

Best local pick → Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB) · Q4_K_M · 142.9 GB · ~23 tok/s

Macs from128 GB Q3_K_M · ~26 tok/s

Apache 2.0

Not set up for it?

Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB

Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate

Run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603

One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.Each way opens a step-by-step guide for your OS and quant.

Recommended

vLLM
one command · needs vLLM installed
$vllm serve nvidia/Qwen3-Nemotron-235B-A22B-GenRM-2603 --max-model-len 16384 --tensor-parallel-size 8

vLLM repo with its own quantisation

Download: Weights on Hugging Face

install, OS, other quants

Ways to runOther ways

each opens step-by-step

Run in cloud

Runs on B200 (192 GB) (49 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M

Generation speed
~129 tok/s
generation speed
Cost per 1M output tokens
$12.86
per 1M output tokens

How Much VRAM Does Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 Need?

Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.

QuantizationVRAM+32KRuns on
100.4 GB103.4 GB2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvementsRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
115.1 GB118.1 GB3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantizationRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
141.6 GB144.5 GB4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spotRuns on GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip 144 GB
168 GB171 GB5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoffRuns on B200 192 GB
194.4 GB197.4 GB6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good qualityRuns on Instinct MI325X 256 GB
235.6 GB238.6 GB8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-losslessRuns on Instinct MI325X 256 GB
470.7 GB473.6 GB16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for trainingRuns on 7× H100 SXM 80 GB
est.calculated, no published file yet

Selected Q4_K_M

4-bit medium quantization

142.9GBat 16K context

Weights
141.1 GB
KV cache
1.6 GB
Overhead
0.3 GB

Server-class: ~142.9 GB at 16K context · one GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip 144 GB

Or .

Which Hardware Can Run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

Q4_K_M · 141.6 GB

Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 (Q4_K_M) requires 141.6 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 185+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 25.0 GB, bringing total usage to 166.6 GB. No consumer GPU has enough memory. 4 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB).

By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M

Consumer GPUs (up to 32 GB) and Macs up to 96 GB: too small for this model (needs ≥ 101.8 GB)8 GB tier →12 GB tier →16 GB tier →24 GB tier →Macs →

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Specifications

Publisher
NVIDIA
Family
Qwen 3
Parameters
235.1B
Active parameters
22.2B per token
Architecture
Qwen3MoeForCausalLM
Context Length
262,144 tokens
Vocabulary Size
151,936
Release Date
2026-03-01
License
Apache 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 need?

Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 requires 141.6 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 470.7 GB at BF16. Full 262K context adds up to 25.0 GB (166.6 GB total).

VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead

Weights = 235.1B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 141.1 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 ≈ 25.5 GB (at full 262K context)

VRAM usage by quantization

141.6 GB
166.6 GB

Learn more about VRAM estimation →

Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

No — Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 requires at least 100.4 GB at Q2_K, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.

What's the best quantization for Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

For Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603, Q4_K_M (141.6 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (168 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 100.4 GB.

VRAM requirement by quantization

Q2_K
100.4 GB
Q4_K_M ★
141.6 GB
Q5_K_M
168.0 GB
Q6_K
194.4 GB
Q8_0
235.6 GB
BF16
470.7 GB

★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.

Learn more about quantization →

Can I run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 on a Mac?

Yes — Mac Pro M2 Ultra (128 GB) and 14 other Macs can run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603, the smallest at Q3_K_M. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 141.6 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead), from Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB).

Can I run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 locally?

Yes — Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.

How fast is Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 can reach ~46 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.

tok/s = 1000 ÷ (active GB ÷ (bandwidth GB/s × efficiency) × 1000 + layers × routing ms)

Mixture-of-Experts: just the active experts get read for each token, along with a fixed routing cost per layer.

Example: NVIDIA B200 → 13.4 GB active ÷ (8000 × 0.65) = 2.57 ms, plus 94 layers × 0.055 ms = 5.17 ms, so 1000 ÷ 7.74 ms = ~129 tok/s

Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB)

~129 tok/s
~129 tok/s
~107 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the download size of Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

At Q4_K_M, the download is about 141.06 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 470.19 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 99.91 GB.

Which GPUs can run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.

Which devices can run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603?

4 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 Nemotron 235B A22B GenRM 2603 at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB), including Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.