Gemma 4 E2B — VRAM, Speed & Local Setup

Autor: Jakub Rusinowski · Ostatnia aktualizacja: 31 marca 2026

Model libraryGemma 4 → Gemma 4 E2B

Gemma 4's most compact variant — the 'Efficient 2B' (~5.1B total params, ~2.3B effective compute via per-layer embeddings) fits in ~5 GB at Q4 and runs on phones, tablets, or any GPU with 6 GB VRAM. Supports text + image input. Outperforms Gemma 3 4B on reasoning and instruction following. Best for offline assistants, edge applications, and Raspberry Pi-style deployments.

Gemma 4 E2B needs about 4 GB of VRAM at Q4 (QAT) — quantized weights plus framework overhead, before any KV cache. On Apple Silicon that figure comes out of unified memory.

Specifications

Parameters5.1 Billion (~2.3B effective)
Context window128,000
ArchitectureDense Transformer + Vision Encoder (per-layer embeddings)
ProviderGoogle
LicenceApache 2.0
Specified atQ4 (QAT)
System RAM8 GB
Record updated2026-03-31

Licence

Apache-2.0commercial 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_K1.7 GB2.5 GB~195 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q3_K_M2.2 GB3.0 GB~173 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q4_K_M3.1 GB3.9 GB~143 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q5_K_M3.6 GB4.4 GB~130 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q6_K4.2 GB5.0 GB~118 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
Q8_05.4 GB6.2 GB~99 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably
F1610.2 GB11.0 GB~61 tok/s (est.)Fits comfortably

Want the memory numbers alone, at every quantization level and your own context length? Use the Gemma 4 E2B VRAM calculator.

Buy This HardwareIntel Arc B570 10GB — 10 GB VRAM · 150 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)

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Cloud GPU links are referral links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Recommended GPU

The cheapest catalogued GPU that runs Gemma 4 E2B is the Intel Arc B570 (10 GB).

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Intel Arc B570 10GB
10 GB VRAM · 150 W board power
Ceny w 2026 są niestabilne — sprawdź aktualną ofertę.
Sprawdź cenę na Amazon

How to Run Gemma 4 E2B

Install Ollama, then run:

ollama run gemma4:e2b

Weights on Hugging Face: google/gemma-4-E2B-it.

Published Benchmark Scores

Quality scores as published by the model's authors or an independent evaluator — not throughput, and not measured by us.

BenchmarkScoreProvenance
MMLU66.4 / 100 %reported
HumanEval58.2 / 100 %reported

Best for: mobile, edge devices, offline chat, low vram, image understanding.

Can I Run Gemma 4 E2B on My GPU?

Other Gemma 4 Sizes

Gemma 4 E2B — Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Gemma 4 E2B need?
About 4 GB at Q4 (QAT) — 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 Gemma 4 E2B run on an RTX 4090 (24 GB)?
Yes. Gemma 4 E2B needs about 4 GB at Q4 (QAT), inside a 24 GB card, at an estimated 143 tokens/sec.
How do I run Gemma 4 E2B locally?
Install Ollama and run `ollama run gemma4:e2b`. That pulls the weights and starts a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint; after the download nothing leaves the machine.
What other sizes does Gemma 4 come in?
Gemma 4 E2B (4 GB), Gemma 4 E4B (6 GB), Gemma 4 26B-A4B (16 GB), Gemma 4 31B (20 GB), Gemma 4 12B (Unified) (8 GB). Every size shares the family's training and licence; the larger ones score higher and need proportionally more memory.

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