Question 1

How much VRAM does Minitron-8B-Base need?

Accepted Answer

Minitron-8B-Base (8B) requires approximately 23.288095092773435 GB of VRAM at full precision (FP16), 11.6 GB at 8-bit quantization (Q8), and 5.8 GB at 4-bit quantization (Q4). The actual VRAM usage may be slightly higher due to KV cache and runtime overhead.

Question 2

What GPUs can run Minitron-8B-Base?

Accepted Answer

We have 10 compatible GPUs indexed for Minitron-8B-Base, including L4, A40, A100 40GB, A10G, A10 and 5 more. Compatibility is determined by whether the GPU's VRAM can fit the model's memory footprint, potentially using quantization to reduce memory usage.

Question 3

What is the cheapest GPU to run Minitron-8B-Base?

Accepted Answer

The cheapest GPU to run Minitron-8B-Base in the cloud is the L4 at $0.20/hr. Other affordable options include A40 ($0.44/hr) and A100 40GB ($0.93/hr). Prices reflect the lowest on-demand rate across cloud providers.

Question 4

Can Minitron-8B-Base run on consumer hardware?

Accepted Answer

Minitron-8B-Base may be able to run on high-end consumer GPUs like the RTX 4090 (24 GB) with 4-bit quantization (Q4), which reduces VRAM usage to approximately 5.8 GB. However, performance may be limited compared to datacenter GPUs.

Question 5

What quantization options are available for Minitron-8B-Base?

Accepted Answer

Minitron-8B-Base supports the following quantization levels: FP16 (full precision): ~23.288095092773435 GB, Q8 (8-bit): ~11.6 GB, Q6 (6-bit): ~8.7 GB, Q4 (4-bit): ~5.8 GB. Lower quantization reduces VRAM usage at the cost of some quality loss. Q8 offers a good balance between quality and memory savings, while Q4 provides maximum compression.

GPU	VRAM	Best Quant	From	Rent
L4	24 GB	Q8	$0.20/hr
A40	48 GB	FP16	$0.44/hr	Rent
A100 40GB	40 GB	FP16	$0.93/hr	Rent
A10G	24 GB	Q8	$1.01/hr
A10	24 GB	Q8	$1.29/hr
A100 80GB PCIe	80 GB	FP16	$1.39/hr	Rent
A100 80GB	80 GB	FP16	$1.39/hr	Rent
H100 MEGA	80 GB	FP16	$1.80/hr	Rent
H100 SXM	80 GB	FP16	$1.80/hr	Rent
H100 NVL	94 GB	FP16	$1.80/hr	Rent

Minitron-8B-Base

VRAM Requirements

Compatible GPUs

Minitron-8B-Base FAQ

VRAM requirements for Minitron-8B-Base at different quantization levels
Quantization	VRAM Required
FP16	23.3 GB
Q8	11.6 GB
Q6	8.7 GB
Q4	5.8 GB