Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
ChatCodeQwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 is a code-focused mixture-of-experts model from Alibaba with 30.5 billion total parameters and roughly 3 billion active per token, served in FP8 precision. The combination of MoE efficiency and FP8 quantization makes this a remarkably accessible coding assistant that punches well above its effective weight class. Designed for code generation, completion, review, and technical conversation, this model benefits from specialized coding training on top of the Qwen3 MoE architecture. Its low active parameter count means it can run on consumer GPUs with moderate VRAM, making it one of the most hardware-friendly dedicated coding models available.
Specifications
- Publisher
- Alibaba
- Family
- Qwen
- Parameters
- 30.5B
- Architecture
- Qwen3MoeForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 262,144 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 151,936
- Release Date
- 2025-12-03
- License
- Apache 2.0
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IQ2_XXS | 2.20 | 8.8 GB | 21.6 GB | 8.40 GB | Importance-weighted 2-bit, extreme compression — significant quality loss |
| IQ2_M | 2.70 | 10.7 GB | 23.5 GB | 10.31 GB | Importance-weighted 2-bit, medium |
| IQ3_XXS | 3.10 | 12.2 GB | 25.0 GB | 11.83 GB | Importance-weighted 3-bit |
| Q2_K | 3.40 | 13.4 GB | 26.2 GB | 12.98 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_S | 3.50 | 13.8 GB | 26.5 GB | 13.36 GB | 3-bit small quantization |
| Q3_K_M | 3.90 | 15.3 GB | 28.1 GB | 14.89 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_0 | 4.00 | 15.7 GB | 28.4 GB | 15.27 GB | 4-bit legacy quantization |
| IQ4_XS | 4.30 | 16.8 GB | 29.6 GB | 16.41 GB | Importance-weighted 4-bit, compact |
| Q4_1 | 4.50 | 17.6 GB | 30.4 GB | 17.18 GB | 4-bit legacy quantization with offset |
| Q4_K_S | 4.50 | 17.6 GB | 30.4 GB | 17.18 GB | 4-bit small quantization |
| IQ4_NL | 4.50 | 17.6 GB | 30.4 GB | 17.18 GB | Importance-weighted 4-bit, non-linear |
| Q4_K_M | 4.80 | 18.7 GB | 31.5 GB | 18.32 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_S | 5.50 | 21.4 GB | 34.2 GB | 20.99 GB | 5-bit small quantization |
| Q5_K_M | 5.70 | 22.2 GB | 34.9 GB | 21.76 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_K | 6.60 | 25.6 GB | 38.4 GB | 25.19 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.00 | 30.9 GB | 43.7 GB | 30.53 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
Which GPUs Can Run Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
Q4_K_M · 18.7 GBQwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 (Q4_K_M) requires 18.7 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 25+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 12.8 GB, bringing total usage to 31.5 GB. 6 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomWhich Devices Can Run Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
Q4_K_M · 18.7 GB21 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomRelated Models
Derivatives (2)
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 need?
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 requires 18.7 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 30.9 GB at Q8_0. Full 262K context adds up to 12.8 GB (31.5 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 30.5B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 18.3 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.4 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 13.2 GB (at full 262K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M18.7 GBQ4_K_M + full context31.5 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
Yes, at Q5_K_M (22.2 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (25.6 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
- What's the best quantization for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
For Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8, Q4_K_M (18.7 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_S (21.4 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 8.8 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
IQ2_XXS8.8 GB~53%Q3_K_S13.8 GB~77%Q4_117.6 GB~88%Q4_K_M ★18.7 GB~89%Q5_K_S21.4 GB~92%Q8_030.9 GB~99%★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 on a Mac?
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 requires at least 8.8 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 Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 locally?
Yes — Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 18.7 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8 can reach ~156 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI300X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~35 tok/s. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.
tok/s = (bandwidth GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency
Example: AMD Instinct MI300X → 5300 ÷ 18.7 × 0.55 = ~156 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (18.7 GB)
AMD Instinct MI300X~156 tok/sNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090~35 tok/sNVIDIA H100 SXM~116 tok/sAMD Instinct MI250X~96 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct FP8?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 18.32 GB. The full-precision Q8_0 version is 30.53 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 8.40 GB.