Gemma 3 270M — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Google Gemma 3 270M is a 270-million parameter base (pretrained) model from Google's Gemma 3 family. It is an experimental release intended for research, fine-tuning, and exploring the capabilities of ultra-small language models. The model runs on virtually any hardware with negligible resource requirements. Released under the Gemma license.
7.5M downloads
1.0K likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- Family
- Gemma 3
- Parameters
- 268M
- Release Date
- 2025-08-05
- License
- Gemma Terms
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HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Gemma 3 270M Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_Kest. | 3.40 | 0.1 GB | — | 0.11 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_Mest. | 3.90 | 0.1 GB | — | 0.13 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_Mest. | 4.80 | 0.2 GB | — | 0.16 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_Mest. | 5.70 | 0.2 GB | — | 0.19 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_Kest. | 6.60 | 0.2 GB | — | 0.22 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.00 | 0.3 GB | — | 0.27 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 0.6 GB | — | 0.54 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 Gemma 3 270M?
Q4_K_M · 0.2 GBGemma 3 270M (Q4_K_M) requires 0.2 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 1+ GB is recommended. 50 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomWhich Devices Can Run Gemma 3 270M?
Q4_K_M · 0.2 GB59 devices with unified memory can run Gemma 3 270M, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomWhere to Download Gemma 3 270M
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 Gemma 3 270M need?
Gemma 3 270M requires 0.2 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 0.6 GB at BF16.
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 268M × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 0.2 GB
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M0.2 GB- What's the best quantization for Gemma 3 270M?
For Gemma 3 270M, Q4_K_M (0.2 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (0.2 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 0.1 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
Q2_K0.1 GBQ4_K_M ★0.2 GBQ5_K_M0.2 GBQ6_K0.2 GBQ8_00.3 GBBF160.6 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Gemma 3 270M on a Mac?
Gemma 3 270M requires at least 0.1 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 Gemma 3 270M locally?
Yes — Gemma 3 270M can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 0.2 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Gemma 3 270M?
At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 270M can reach ~24444 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~3640 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 ÷ 0.2 × 0.65 = ~28889 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (0.2 GB)
~28889 tok/s~3640 tok/s~28889 tok/s~24444 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Gemma 3 270M?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 0.16 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 0.54 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 0.11 GB.
- Which GPUs can run Gemma 3 270M?
50 consumer GPUs can run Gemma 3 270M at Q4_K_M (0.2 GB). Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. 50 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
- Which devices can run Gemma 3 270M?
59 devices with unified memory can run Gemma 3 270M at Q4_K_M (0.2 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Apple iPhone 17 Pro, Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025, 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.