Llama 3.2 3B Instruct on DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算) (64GB) — VRAM, KV Cache & Throughput
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (3.21B total, 3.21B active, Dense GQA) uses 1.97 GiB of 4-bit weights (Q4_K_M), requiring 3.41 GiB total at 8K context and 6.03 GiB at 32K on DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算) (~338.2 tok/s decode).
Recommended Hardware for Current Configuration
Production Launch Commands
llama-server -hf unsloth/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M \ --ctx-size 8192 -ngl 999 --flash-attn
vllm serve meta-llama/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct \ --max-model-len 8192 --gpu-memory-utilization 0.92
Cloud GPU Comparison & Rent-vs-Buy TCO
Verified public rates across RunPod, Vast.ai, Vultr, and DigitalOcean.
| Provider | Recommended Instance | Total VRAM | Hourly Rate | Monthly at Selected Hours | Billing Mode | Deploy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RunPod | 1x RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (Community Cloud) | 16 GB | $0.18 / hr | $21.89 / mo | Per-second | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vast.ai | 1x RTX 3060 12GB (Verified Host) | 12 GB | $0.06 / hr | $7.42 / mo | Spot / On-demand | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr ($300 Free Credit*) | 1x L40S 48GB (Dedicated Instance · $300 Credit*) | 48 GB | $1.67 / hr | $203.19 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr Cloud GPU | 1x L40S 48GB (Dedicated Instance) | 48 GB | $1.67 / hr | $203.19 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| DigitalOcean | 1x RTX 6000 Ada (Dedicated Instance) | 48 GB | $1.57 / hr | $190.91 / mo | Per-second | Deploy GPU ↗ |
Rates reflect public listings on the verification date and fluctuate with regional inventory.
Fine-Tuning VRAM Requirements (QLoRA / LoRA / Full) — Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Engineering Sizing Notes & Optimization Playbook
Quick Hardware Verdict
DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算) (64GB physical, 60.8 GiB usable) runs 4-bit (Q4_K_M) Llama 3.2 3B Instruct at 8K context using 3.41 GiB with 57.39 GiB of safe headroom (~338.2 tok/s single-stream decode).
KV Cache & Runtime Tuning
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct uses Dense GQA (3.21B total, 3.21B active per token). Moving from 8K to 32K context expands FP16 KV cache from 0.88 GiB to 3.5 GiB; enabling 8-bit KV cache (llama.cpp -ctk q8_0 -ctv q8_0 or vLLM --kv-cache-dtype fp8) saves 1.75 GiB at 32K (reducing total VRAM to 4.28 GiB).
VRAM Scaling Across Context Windows (4K to 128K, 4-bit Weights)
Quantization Precision & Memory Matrix — Llama 3.2 3B Instruct @ 8K
| Quantization Format | Weights (GiB) | KV Cache | Total VRAM (GiB) | Decode Speed | Compatibility (DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算)) | Recommended GPU | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Weights (BF16 / FP8 / MXFP4 — Lossless) (BF16) | 5.98 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 7.42 GiB (7.97 GB) | ~144.8 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Official checkpoint size |
| FP8 / GGUF Q8_0 (8-bit — Near-Lossless) (Q8_0) | 3.18 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 4.62 GiB (4.96 GB) | ~241.1 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q6_K (6-bit — High Precision) (Q6_K) | 2.45 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 3.89 GiB (4.18 GB) | ~291.6 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q5_K_M (5-bit — Balanced) (Q5_K_M) | 2.21 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 3.65 GiB (3.92 GB) | ~313.2 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| Q4_K_M / UD-Q4_K_XL / AWQ (4-bit — Recommended) (Q4_K_M) | 1.97 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 3.41 GiB (3.66 GB) | ~338.2 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF IQ4_XS (4.25-bit — Compact) (IQ4_XS) | 1.7 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 3.14 GiB (3.37 GB) | ~371.7 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q3_K_M (3-bit — Low VRAM) (Q3_K_M) | 1.56 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 3 GiB (3.22 GB) | ~380 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF UD-Q2_K_XL (2-bit — Extreme MoE) (UD-Q2_K_XL) | 1.19 GiB | 0.88 GiB | 2.63 GiB (2.82 GB) | ~380 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Config-derived formula |
Technical Specifications & FAQ
Does Llama 3.2 3B Instruct fit on DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算) (64GB)?
In 4-bit (Q4_K_M) at 8,192 context, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct requires 3.41 GiB total GPU memory (1.97 GiB weights + 0.88 GiB KV cache + 0.56 GiB runtime buffers) against 60.8 GiB usable on DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算), delivering ~338.2 tok/s decode.
How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B Instruct need at 32K context?
At 32,768 context tokens, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (Dense GQA) allocates 3.5 GiB for KV cache and state, bringing total 4-bit VRAM to 6.03 GiB (6.47 GB decimal).