Falcon 3 3B Instruct — VRAM, speed & local setup
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated
A remarkably capable 3B model for commercial use. Outperforms Phi-3.5 Mini on several benchmarks. Great for low-VRAM or phone deployment where Apache 2.0 licensing is required.
Falcon 3 3B Instruct needs about 3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M — quantized weights plus framework overhead, before any KV cache. On Apple Silicon that figure comes out of unified memory.
VRAM and speed by quantization
Quoted against NVIDIA RTX 4090 (24 GB). Includes the KV cache at 8K context, so it reads higher than the headline figure.
| Quant | Memory | VRAM | Speed (est.) | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K 2.63 bpw | 2.6 GB | ~242 tok/s | Fits | |
| Q3_K_M 3.41 bpw | 2.9 GB | ~220 tok/s | Fits | |
| Q4_K_M 4.83 bpw | 3.5 GB | ~188 tok/s | Fits | |
| Q5_K_M 5.67 bpw | 3.8 GB | ~174 tok/s | Fits | |
| Q6_K 6.56 bpw | 4.2 GB | ~160 tok/s | Fits | |
| Q8_0 8.50 bpw | 5 GB | ~137 tok/s | Fits | |
| F16 16.00 bpw | 8 GB | ~89 tok/s | Fits |
Black marker = usable memory on the NVIDIA RTX 4090 (24 GB). Estimates from the memory-bandwidth roofline on the methodology page. Falcon 3 3B Instruct VRAM calculator →
Get Falcon 3 3B Instruct running
The cheapest catalogued GPU that runs Falcon 3 3B Instruct is the Intel Arc B570 (10 GB).
or compare on Vast.ai from $0.35/hr (typical low · varies)
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How to run Falcon 3 3B Instruct
Install Ollama, then run:
ollama run falcon3:3bSpecifications
Curated — A hand-written entry from before this catalogue recorded its sources. The figures are long-standing but their provenance is not on file.
- Parameters
- 3 Billion
- Context window
- 32,768
- Architecture
- Dense
- Provider
- TII (UAE)
- Licence
- Apache 2.0
- Practical deployment
- Edge device (phone, SBC)
- Specified at
- Q4_K_M
- System RAM
- 8 GB
- Record updated
- 2024-12-18
Commercial use permitted. No usage restrictions beyond attribution.
Quality and use cases
Scores as published by the model’s authors or an independent evaluator — quality, not throughput, and not measured by us.
Can I run Falcon 3 3B Instruct on my GPU?
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on Intel Arc B570
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on Intel Arc B580
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB)
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB)
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
- Falcon 3 3B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
Other Falcon 3 sizes
Falcon 3 3B Instruct — frequently asked questions
How much VRAM does Falcon 3 3B Instruct need?
About 3 GB at Q4_K_M — quantized weights plus framework overhead, before any KV cache. The cache grows with context length and is added on top; the table above folds it in. Apple Silicon counts unified memory toward the same figure.
Does Falcon 3 3B Instruct run on an RTX 4090 (24 GB)?
Yes. Falcon 3 3B Instruct needs about 3 GB at Q4_K_M, inside a 24 GB card, at an estimated 188 tokens/sec.
How do I run Falcon 3 3B Instruct locally?
Install Ollama and run `ollama run falcon3:3b`. That pulls the weights and starts a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint; after the download nothing leaves the machine.
What other sizes does Falcon 3 come in?
Falcon 3 3B Instruct (3 GB), Falcon 3 7B Instruct (5 GB), Falcon 3 10B Instruct (7 GB). Every size shares the family's training and licence; the larger ones score higher and need proportionally more memory.