Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated June 27, 2024
Model library → Gemma 2 Family → Gemma 2 9B IT
Punchy and creative. Excellent for creative writing and brainstorming.
Gemma 2 9B IT needs about 6 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.
| Parameters | 9 Billion |
| Context window | 8,192 |
| Architecture | Dense Transformer |
| Provider | |
| Licence | Gemma Terms |
| Specified at | Q4_K_M |
| System RAM | 16 GB |
| Record updated | 2024-06-27 |
Gemma Terms — commercial use permitted. Weights are downloadable and commercial use is permitted, subject to the licence’s acceptable-use terms.
Modelled on a reference NVIDIA RTX 4090 (24 GB), at 8K context. Speed figures are ESTIMATES from the memory-bandwidth roofline described on the methodology page, not benchmarks we ran — rows marked measured come from published or reader-submitted runs. VRAM here includes the KV cache, so it reads higher than the headline figure above, which does not.
| Quant | Weights | VRAM needed | Est. speed | Fit on 24 GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 3.0 GB | 6.6 GB | ~125 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| Q3_K_M | 3.8 GB | 7.5 GB | ~109 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| Q4_K_M | 5.4 GB | 9.1 GB | ~89 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| Q5_K_M | 6.4 GB | 10.0 GB | ~80 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| Q6_K | 7.4 GB | 11.0 GB | ~72 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| Q8_0 | 9.6 GB | 13.2 GB | ~60 tok/s (est.) | Fits comfortably |
| F16 | 18.0 GB | 21.6 GB | ~36 tok/s (est.) | Tight fit |
Want the memory numbers alone, at every quantization level and your own context length? Use the Gemma 2 9B IT VRAM calculator.
or compare on Vast.ai from $0.35/hr (typical low · varies)
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The cheapest catalogued GPU that runs Gemma 2 9B IT is the Intel Arc B570 (10 GB).
Install Ollama, then run:
ollama run gemma2Weights on Hugging Face: google/gemma-2-9b-it.
Pick a quantization and open it in LM Studio, Ollama, or Jan, or download the raw .gguf file directly. Quant list and sizes resolved from Hugging Face.
| Quant | Size | Download (.gguf) |
|---|---|---|
| Q3_K_M | 3.84 GB (est.) | gemma-2-9b-it-Q3_K_M.gguf |
| Q4_K_M | 5.43 GB (est.) | gemma-2-9b-it-Q4_K_M.gguf |
| Q5_K_M | 6.38 GB (est.) | gemma-2-9b-it-Q5_K_M.gguf |
| Q6_K | 7.38 GB (est.) | gemma-2-9b-it-Q6_K.gguf |
| Q8_0 | 9.56 GB (est.) | gemma-2-9b-it-Q8_0.gguf |
Download in LM Studio: lms get bartowski/gemma-2-9b-it-GGUF
Want this model on your phone? You can run it on your desktop with LM Studio and chat from your iPhone or iPad over an encrypted link — see Run LM Studio Models on Your Phone (LM Link).
Best for: creative, chat.
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