SmolLM 1.7B Instruct on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

Can the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB run SmolLM 1.7B Instruct?

Yes, it runs great

Runs great. At F16 it needs about 5.0 GB of 12.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 60.6 tok/s.

Best quant: F16
Generation speed: 60.6 tok/s
Prompt processing: 5,347 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 0.3 s
Largest safe context: 2K

Best app to run it on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

On Windows

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.

ollama run smollm:1.7b-instruct-v0.2-fp16

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

On Linux

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.

ollama run smollm:1.7b-instruct-v0.2-fp16

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download SmolLM 1.7B Instruct

Recommended for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB: F16. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run smollm:1.7b-instruct-v0.2-fp16

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

huggingface.co/QuantFactory/SmolLM-1.7B-Instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/QuantFactory/SmolLM-1.7B-Instruct-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Hugging Face, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/HuggingFaceTB/SmolLM-1.7B-Instruct (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at F16, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Runs great: How well it runs on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB: speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	6.3 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when everything sits in GPU memory; fewer when part spills to system RAM.	25.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	15.0 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	9.7 / 15
Match score	56.0 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	2.3 GB	12.0 GB	424 tok/s	Runs great	9Basic quality (D) · 9 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 48/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	2.4 GB	12.0 GB	334 tok/s	Runs great	11Basic quality (D) · 11 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 49/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	2.6 GB	12.0 GB	258 tok/s	Runs great	13Basic quality (D) · 13 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	2.8 GB	12.0 GB	213 tok/s	Runs great	13Basic quality (D) · 13 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	3.0 GB	12.0 GB	179 tok/s	Runs great	13Basic quality (D) · 13 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	3.4 GB	12.0 GB	132 tok/s	Runs great	14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	5.0 GB	12.0 GB	60.6 tok/s	Runs great	14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 2K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 F16 · 45.8 tok/s · Runs great
14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intel Arc B580 F16 · 58.7 tok/s · Runs great
14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER F16 · 84.9 tok/s · Runs great
14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT F16 · 92.8 tok/s · Runs great
14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB F16 · 48.5 tok/s · Runs great
14Basic quality (D) · 14 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER F16 · 113 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does SmolLM 1.7B Instruct need on the RTX 3060 12GB?

At F16 it needs about 5.0 GB. The RTX 3060 12GB has 12.0 GB usable.

How fast is SmolLM 1.7B Instruct on the RTX 3060 12GB?

About 60.6 tok/s at F16, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of SmolLM 1.7B Instruct should I use on the RTX 3060 12GB?

F16. Of the versions that fit, it is the one that runs best; when two run equally well, the check prefers the higher-rated one.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.