Yes — SmolLM3 3B runs on 8 GB laptop
SmolLM3 3B (3B) needs 3.3GB VRAM at Q8 vs your 8GB VRAM. Estimated ~6–8 tok/s (RAM offload).
On-device 3B from HF. Dual-mode thinking, tiny footprint.
| quant | weights | + KV 8k | fits 0GB? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 2GB | ~2.2GB | × tight/no |
| Q5 | 2.5GB | ~2.7GB | × tight/no |
| Q8 | 3.3GB | ~3.5GB | × tight/no |
| FP16 | 6GB | ~6.2GB | × tight/no |
File size ≠ runtime. KV grows with context — halve to 4k/2k if long chats OOM. Leave 1–2GB free.
Can SmolLM3 3B run on 8 GB laptop?
SmolLM3 3B (3B) needs 3.3GB VRAM at Q8 vs your 8GB VRAM. Estimated ~6–8 tok/s (RAM offload). Model context 64k. Compare with all models or re-check with your exact specs on the bench.
Unload with ollama stop, cap layers --num-gpu 28, cut context to 2k. See the OOM fixer on the homepage.
Start Q8. Bigger model at Q4 beats smaller at Q8. Only go Q8 if 2GB+ headroom remains.
About ~6–8 tok/s (RAM offload) when 100% on GPU. Any CPU offload drops speed 5–20× — check ollama ps.
Yes — Apache-2.0 allows commercial use.