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text model · Gemma · Windows

Can I run Gemma 3 4B on Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB)?

Compatibility verdict VRAM threshold engine
Yes, it runs GPU accelerated ~132 tok/s est.

Yes. Gemma 3 4B runs on Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) at Q4_K_M (~3.8 GB of ~11 GB usable).

Needs ~3.8 GB Device usable ~11 GB

Runs at Q4_K_M using ~3.8 GB of ~11 GB usable. You have room for FP16 for higher quality.

That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) leaves ~7.2 GB of headroom, room to step up to FP16 for higher quality.

Q4_K_M needed
~3.8 GB
Usable on device
~11 GB
Device memory
12 GB
Best quant
Q4_K_M
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Which quant fits

Quant ladder vs ~11 GB usable
Q2_K
~3 GB
Q3_K_M
~3.3 GB
Q4_K_M
~3.8 GB
Q5_K_M
~4.2 GB
Q6_K
~4.6 GB
Q8_0
~5.4 GB
FP16
~9.3 GB
The line marks Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB)'s ~11 GB budget; rungs past it are too large.

Running cost · estimate

Power & economics est.
Power draw
~200 W
Electricity / 1M tokens
~$0.06
Pays for itself after
~1,361M tok

At ~$0.15/kWh and the estimated ~132 tok/s, a million generated tokens costs about $0.06 in electricity. Versus a hosted API at ~$0.5 per million tokens, the ~$599 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) pays for itself after roughly 1,361 million tokens, so local hardware is mostly a fixed cost, not a per-token one. TDP is the peak draw, so this is an upper bound. Assumptions.

Run it

Install commands Windows

Pick your tool. All 3 load the same Q4_K_M weights.

Ollama
$ ollama run gemma3:4b
llama.cpp
$ llama-cli -hf bartowski/google_gemma-3-4b-it-GGUF:Q4_K_M
LM Studio
$ lms get bartowski/google_gemma-3-4b-it-GGUF
Model Gemma
Parameters
4B
Q4_K_M size
2.49 GB
Q8_0 size
4.13 GB
Context
128k
Ollama tag
gemma3:4b
Full Gemma 3 4B requirements →
Device Windows
Memory
12 GB vram
Usable for weights
~11 GB
Power draw
~200 W
Best runtime
Ollama (CUDA) / vLLM (Linux)
Best models for Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) →

You could also run

Run Gemma 3 4B on other hardware

FAQ

Can Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) run Gemma 3 4B?

Yes. Gemma 3 4B runs on Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) at Q4_K_M (~3.8 GB of ~11 GB usable).

How much memory does Gemma 3 4B need?

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) has room to spare. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~2.49 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~3.8 GB at a 4k context.

What is the best tool to run Gemma 3 4B on Windows?

LM Studio for a simple setup; Ollama (CUDA) for the most speed. AMD GPUs run via Vulkan/ROCm at roughly half CUDA throughput. NVIDIA is the smooth path on Windows.

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Sources

Weights are measured from GGUF files; KV cache and overhead are computed, so totals can vary ~15% with context and runtime. Any tok/s is a bandwidth estimate. See methodology.