IBM Granite 4.0 — local AI model by IBM

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated

The Granite 4.0 generation, listed here for the one tier that has no Granite 4.1 counterpart: the 32B-total / 9B-active hybrid mamba-2 build. Granite models are finetuned from their base models on permissively-licensed open instruction datasets plus internally-collected synthetic data, with improved instruction-following and tool-calling aimed squarely at enterprise RAG and agent workloads. Apache 2.0. For the smaller sizes, see Granite 4.1 — those tiers are newer and supersede their 4.0 equivalents.

Ollama Library Hugging Face

Variants

The smallest IBM Granite 4.0 variant needs about 20 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M — quantized weights plus framework overhead, before any KV cache.

ModelVRAM
Granite 4.0 Small-H 32B-A9B →
32B (9B active)
~20.1 GB

Memory is quantized weights plus overhead at Q4_K_M, from the same engine as the GPU & VRAM checker.

How to run IBM Granite 4.0 locally

Install Ollama, then pull the tag.

ollama run granite4:32b-a9b-h

Pick a size above for its own VRAM figure, speed estimate and install command.

Licence

Apache-2.0Commercial use permitted

Commercial use permitted. No usage restrictions beyond attribution.

Applies to: Granite 4.0 Small-H 32B-A9B

Recommended GPU

The cheapest catalogued GPU that runs IBM Granite 4.0 locally (min 20 GB VRAM) is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB).

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AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB
20 GB VRAM · 315 W board power
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Can I run IBM Granite 4.0 on my GPU?

IBM Granite 4.0 — frequently asked questions

How much VRAM does IBM Granite 4.0 need?

IBM Granite 4.0 needs about 20 GB VRAM at Q4_K_M quantization for its smallest variant. Variants: Granite 4.0 Small-H 32B-A9B (20 GB, Q4_K_M). On Apple Silicon, unified memory counts toward this requirement.

Can I run IBM Granite 4.0 on an RTX 4090 (24 GB)?

Yes — IBM Granite 4.0 runs on an RTX 4090 (24 GB) and other 24 GB cards such as the RTX 3090. Smaller variants also fit comfortably on 8–16 GB GPUs at Q4_K_M.

What quantization should I use for IBM Granite 4.0?

Q4_K_M is the best balance of quality and VRAM for IBM Granite 4.0 in most cases. Choose Q8_0 for near-lossless quality if you have spare VRAM, or smaller quants (Q3/Q2) only when memory is tight.

How do I run IBM Granite 4.0 with Ollama?

Install Ollama, then run: ollama run granite4:32b-a9b-h. This downloads IBM Granite 4.0 and starts a local, OpenAI-compatible endpoint — no internet connection is needed after the initial download.