# Qwen3 8B: RAM and VRAM requirements

> Qwen3 8B is a 8B Qwen3 model. At Q4_K_M it needs about **6.5 GB** to run and fits **32 of 39** tracked devices. Minimum to run: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB).

Last validated: 2026-06-15. Sources: Ollama, HuggingFace GGUF repos, vendor specs.

## Memory by quantization
| Quant | On disk | To run (4k context) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Q4_K_M | 5.03 GB | ~6.5 GB |
| Q8_0 | 8.71 GB | ~10.2 GB |
| FP16 | 16 GB | ~17.5 GB |

Memory = weights + KV cache + ~0.8 GB runtime overhead, and varies ±15% with context length.

## Will it run on my device?
- **Apple M1 (8GB)** (8 GB): No, not enough memory
- **Generic Android Phone (8GB RAM)** (8 GB): No, not enough memory
- **iPhone 17 Pro** (12 GB): Yes, it runs
- **Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB)** (16 GB): Yes, it runs — room for Q8_0
- **Google Pixel 10 Pro** (16 GB): Yes, it runs — room for Q8_0
- **Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (24GB)** (24 GB): Yes, it runs — room for FP16
- **Apple M4 Pro (48GB)** (48 GB): Yes, it runs — room for FP16
- **Apple M3 Ultra (256GB)** (256 GB): Yes, it runs — room for FP16

Full table of all 39 devices: https://localmodel.run/model/qwen3-8b

## How to run
Quickest path: `ollama run qwen3:8b`. On Mac, LM Studio (ships MLX) is fastest; on Linux, Ollama for chat or vLLM to serve; on Windows, LM Studio or Ollama.

## Details
- Parameters: 8B
- Default context: 32k tokens
- License: Apache-2.0 (commercial use: yes)
- Released: 2025-04
- HuggingFace: 8,574,959 downloads/mo, 1140 likes

## FAQ
### How much VRAM or RAM does Qwen3 8B need?
About 6.5 GB at Q4_K_M (weights 5.03 GB + KV cache + overhead) at a 4k context. Budget ~10.2 GB for Q8_0.
### Can Qwen3 8B run on a laptop?
Yes. Qwen3 8B fits on a 16 GB laptop or Mac at Q4_K_M, and runs on Apple Silicon or a 12 GB+ GPU comfortably.
### Can I use Qwen3 8B commercially?
Yes, Apache-2.0 permits commercial use.

Sources: https://ollama.com/library/qwen3/tags, https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3-8B-GGUF, https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen3/
More: https://localmodel.run/model/qwen3-8b