Granite 4.2 30B — VRAM, Speed & Local Setup

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated September 11, 2026

Model library → IBM Granite 4.2 → Granite 4.2 30B

The largest Granite 4.2, dense throughout — so unlike a 30B MoE it streams all 30B of weights per token and decodes accordingly. 18.9 GB at Q4_K_M needs a 24 GB card. The size to pick when the agentic trajectory matters more than tokens per second. 128K context, 512K extended, Apache 2.0.

Granite 4.2 30B needs about 19 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.

Specifications

Parameters30 Billion
Context window131,072
ArchitectureDense Decoder-Only Transformer
ProviderIBM
LicenceApache 2.0
Specified atQ4_K_M
System RAM32 GB
Record updated2026-09-11

Licence

Apache-2.0 — commercial use permitted. Commercial use permitted. No usage restrictions beyond attribution.

VRAM and Speed by Quantization

Modelled on a reference NVIDIA RTX 4090 (24 GB), with no KV cache (this record has no published architecture). 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.

QuantWeightsVRAM neededEst. speedFit on 24 GB
Q2_K9.9 GB10.7 GB~61 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q3_K_M12.8 GB13.6 GB~49 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q4_K_M18.1 GB18.9 GB~37 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q5_K_M21.3 GB22.1 GB~32 tok/s (est.)Tight fit
Q6_K24.6 GB25.4 GB~4 tok/s (est.)Offloads to system RAM (slow)
Q8_031.9 GB32.7 GB~3 tok/s (est.)Offloads to system RAM (slow)
F1660.0 GB60.8 GB—Won't fit

Want the memory numbers alone, at every quantization level and your own context length? Use the Granite 4.2 30B VRAM calculator.

Buy This HardwareAMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB — 20 GB VRAM · 315 W board powerDeploy in the Cloud NowRTX 4090 on RunPod — from $0.34/hr · rate checked 2026-07

or compare on Vast.ai from $0.35/hr (typical low · varies)

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Recommended GPU

The cheapest catalogued GPU that runs Granite 4.2 30B 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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How to Run Granite 4.2 30B

Install Ollama, then run:

ollama run granite4.2:30b

Weights on Hugging Face: ibm-granite/granite-4.2-30b.

Best for: enterprise, rag, reasoning, agentic tasks.

Can I Run Granite 4.2 30B on My GPU?

Other IBM Granite 4.2 Sizes

Granite 4.2 30B — Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Granite 4.2 30B need?
About 19 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 Granite 4.2 30B run on an RTX 4090 (24 GB)?
Yes. Granite 4.2 30B needs about 19 GB at Q4_K_M, inside a 24 GB card, at an estimated 37 tokens/sec.
How do I run Granite 4.2 30B locally?
Install Ollama and run `ollama run granite4.2:30b`. That pulls the weights and starts a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint; after the download nothing leaves the machine.
What other sizes does IBM Granite 4.2 come in?
Granite 4.2 3B (3 GB), Granite 4.2 8B (6 GB), Granite 4.2 30B (19 GB). Every size shares the family's training and licence; the larger ones score higher and need proportionally more memory.

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