On an RTX 4060 (8 GB), Gemma 3 12B in Q4_K_M needs about 8,3 Go of video memory: too tight, part of the model would have to be offloaded to system memory (much slower).
Not measured yet: the figures below are estimates, computed from the models already measured on this card. Measure my card
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Generation (estimated)
≥ 8,3 Go
Recommended VRAM (8 GB avail.)
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Power (ref. model)
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Electricity / M tokens · 0,25 €/kWh
No speed estimate: the model does not fit in video memory, part of it would spill into system memory and speed would collapse (often below 5 tok/s).
What about a longer context?
Context
KV cache
Estimated VRAM
Fits in 8 GB?
Estimated speed
4 096
0,3 Go
7,5 Go
yes
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8 192
0,5 Go
7,8 Go
yes
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16 384
1,0 Go
8,3 Go
no
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32 768
2,0 Go
9,3 Go
no
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65 536
4,0 Go
11,3 Go
no
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131 072
8,0 Go
15,3 Go
no
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Estimated VRAM = file + KV cache (full-attention layers, f16) + ~0,5 Go of buffers, excluding memory used by the system — hence the slightly higher “recommended VRAM”, which keeps that margin. Speed ≈ estimated speed × weights read ÷ (weights read + added KV cache).
Estimates based on real measurements of other models on this card and on the model's public data (Google Gemma). As soon as a measurement exists, this page shows the real figures.