GLM 5 FP8 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
ChatGLM 5 FP8 is the FP8 quantized release of Zhipu AI's 754 billion parameter flagship model, reducing memory requirements by storing weights in 8-bit floating point precision. This quantization roughly halves the VRAM needed compared to the full-precision version while preserving most of the model's capability across reasoning, coding, and multilingual tasks. It remains a demanding model to run locally, but FP8 quantization meaningfully lowers the hardware barrier for users with high-end multi-GPU setups.
Specifications
- Publisher
- zai-org
- Family
- GLM
- Parameters
- 753.9B
- Architecture
- GlmMoeDsaForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 202,752 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 154,880
- Release Date
- 2026-03-11
- License
- MIT
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does GLM 5 FP8 Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IQ2_XXS | 2.20 | 211.6 GB | 596.3 GB | 207.33 GB | Importance-weighted 2-bit, extreme compression — significant quality loss |
| IQ2_M | 2.70 | 258.7 GB | 643.4 GB | 254.44 GB | Importance-weighted 2-bit, medium |
| IQ3_XXS | 3.10 | 296.4 GB | 681.1 GB | 292.14 GB | Importance-weighted 3-bit |
| Q2_K | 3.40 | 324.6 GB | 709.4 GB | 320.41 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_S | 3.50 | 334.1 GB | 718.8 GB | 329.84 GB | 3-bit small quantization |
| Q3_K_M | 3.90 | 371.8 GB | 756.5 GB | 367.53 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_0 | 4.00 | 381.2 GB | 765.9 GB | 376.96 GB | 4-bit legacy quantization |
| IQ4_XS | 4.30 | 409.4 GB | 794.2 GB | 405.23 GB | Importance-weighted 4-bit, compact |
| Q4_1 | 4.50 | 428.3 GB | 813.0 GB | 424.07 GB | 4-bit legacy quantization with offset |
| Q4_K_S | 4.50 | 428.3 GB | 813.0 GB | 424.07 GB | 4-bit small quantization |
| IQ4_NL | 4.50 | 428.3 GB | 813.0 GB | 424.07 GB | Importance-weighted 4-bit, non-linear |
| Q4_K_M | 4.80 | 456.6 GB | 841.3 GB | 452.35 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_S | 5.50 | 522.5 GB | 907.3 GB | 518.31 GB | 5-bit small quantization |
| Q5_K_M | 5.70 | 541.4 GB | 926.1 GB | 537.16 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_K | 6.60 | 626.2 GB | 1010.9 GB | 621.98 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.00 | 758.1 GB | 1142.9 GB | 753.91 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
Which GPUs Can Run GLM 5 FP8?
Q4_K_M · 456.6 GBGLM 5 FP8 (Q4_K_M) requires 456.6 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 594+ GB is recommended. Using the full 203K context window can add up to 384.7 GB, bringing total usage to 841.3 GB. No single GPU has enough memory — multi-GPU or cluster setups are needed.
Which Devices Can Run GLM 5 FP8?
Q4_K_M · 456.6 GB2 devices with unified memory can run GLM 5 FP8, including NVIDIA DGX H100.
Decent
— Enough memory, may be tightRelated Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does GLM 5 FP8 need?
GLM 5 FP8 requires 456.6 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 758.1 GB at Q8_0. Full 203K context adds up to 384.7 GB (841.3 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 753.9B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 452.3 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 4.3 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 389 GB (at full 203K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M456.6 GBQ4_K_M + full context841.3 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run GLM 5 FP8?
No — GLM 5 FP8 requires at least 211.6 GB at IQ2_XXS, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.
- What's the best quantization for GLM 5 FP8?
For GLM 5 FP8, Q4_K_M (456.6 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_S (522.5 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 211.6 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
IQ2_XXS211.6 GB~53%Q3_K_S334.1 GB~77%Q4_1428.3 GB~88%Q4_K_M ★456.6 GB~89%Q5_K_S522.5 GB~92%Q8_0758.1 GB~99%★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run GLM 5 FP8 on a Mac?
GLM 5 FP8 requires at least 211.6 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 GLM 5 FP8 locally?
Yes — GLM 5 FP8 can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 456.6 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- What's the download size of GLM 5 FP8?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 452.35 GB. The full-precision Q8_0 version is 753.91 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 207.33 GB.