Google DeepMind Q8_0 9B Parameters

VRAM Requirements for
Gemma 2 9B Q8_0

To run Gemma 2 9B locally at Q8_0 quantization, you need at minimum 12 GB of GPU VRAM.

12 GB
Required VRAM
9.83 GB
File Size
8K tokens
Context Window
9B
Parameters
Estimated VRAM Required
12
GB
Mid-Range GPU Required
0 16GB
RTX 3080 48GB
A6000 80GB+

Recommended GPU Configurations

⚠️ 2.0 GB short
Budget $350 – $500

RTX 3080 (10GB)

10 GB

Used market gem. Tight on VRAM but viable for this workload.

Balanced $699 – $799

RTX 4070 Ti (12GB)

12 GB

Strong inference GPU. Handles 7-13B models comfortably.

Ultimate $1,599 – $1,999

RTX 4090 (24GB)

24 GB

Best consumer GPU. Breeze through 13B models at any quantization.

📊 VRAM Calculation Breakdown

Model File Size (Q8_0) 9.83 GB
Context Overhead (8,192 tokens × 9B × 2 ÷ 1M) 0.147 GB
System Buffer (OS + CUDA runtime) 2.00 GB
Total Required VRAM 12 GB

Try a Different Quantization

Use the interactive calculator to compare Gemma 2 9B across all available formats.

Open Live Calculator →

Gemma 2 9B — Other Quantizations

Q4_K_M 5.44 GB file
7.6 GB
Q6_K 7.06 GB file
9.2 GB
Q8_0 Current
12 GB
FP16 18.49 GB file
20.6 GB
Advertisement Zone

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run Gemma 2 9B Q8_0 on a consumer GPU?
Yes! At 12 GB VRAM required, a single high-end consumer GPU like the RTX 4090 (24GB) can handle this workload. You can also use multiple GPUs for tensor parallelism.
What happens if I don't have enough VRAM?
If your GPU VRAM is insufficient, llama.cpp and similar tools will offload model layers to system RAM (CPU inference). This is much slower — expect 10-50× the generation latency compared to full GPU inference.
Can I use multiple GPUs to run Gemma 2 9B?
Yes! Tools like llama.cpp, vLLM, and Ollama support tensor parallelism across multiple GPUs. For example, 2× RTX 3090 (24GB each) gives you 48GB total VRAM, which can run many large models.
Is Q8_0 quality good enough for production?
Q8_0 produces near-lossless quality compared to FP16. It's widely used in production deployments where quality is critical and you can afford the extra VRAM.