Nemotron · Aug 2026 · 31.6B total, 3.5B active
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B: what runs it and what it costs today
At Q4_K_M with 8K of context it needs about 21 GB of memory. The cheapest machine that runs it today is the NVIDIA Tesla P40 at $269.99. With 5 GB of the weights in system RAM, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 16GB at $127.63 also runs it, at about 50 tokens per second.
By quantization
Memory needed includes the KV cache for 8K of context and runtime overhead. The cheapest machine is the lowest live price, item plus shipping, that fits with room for that context.
| Quant | Needs | Cheapest machine that fits today | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | 65 GB | Framework Desktop, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB | $3,618.73 |
| Q8_0 | 35 GB | Framework Desktop, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB | $3,618.73 |
| Q6_K | 27 GB | AMD Radeon Instinct MI50 32GB | $600 |
| Q5_K_M | 24 GB | NVIDIA Tesla P40 | $269.99 |
| Q4_K_M | 21 GB | NVIDIA Tesla P40 | $269.99 |
| Q3_K_M | 17 GB | NVIDIA Tesla P40 | $269.99 |
| IQ2_M | 12 GB | NVIDIA Tesla P100 16GB | $127.63 |
Every machine at Q4_K_M 35 fit
| Machine | Memory | Fit at 8K | Est. speed | Price | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Tesla P40 card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~76 tok/s ~72 at 32K | $269.99 eBay | $11/GB |
| AMD Radeon Instinct MI50 32GB card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~130 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $600 eBay | $18/GB |
| NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB PCIe card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~140 tok/s ~130 at 32K | $729 eBay | $22/GB |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~120 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $900 eBay | $37/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~140 tok/s ~140 at 32K | $990 eBay | $41/GB |
| Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~65 tok/s ~61 at 32K | $1,398 eBay | $43/GB |
| AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~97 tok/s ~93 at 32K | $1,950 eBay | $60/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~150 tok/s ~140 at 32K | $2,083.48 eBay | $86/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX A5000 card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~130 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $2,325.65 eBay | $96/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~120 tok/s ~110 at 32K | $2,659.99 eBay | $110/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF card | 24 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~89 tok/s ~85 at 32K | $2,899 eBay | $120/GB |
| Framework Desktop, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~49 tok/s ~46 at 32K | $3,618.73 eBay | $28/GB |
| GMKtec EVO-X2, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~49 tok/s ~46 at 32K | $3,649.99 eBay | $28/GB |
| Apple Mac mini M5 Pro, 64 GB desktop box | 64 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~65 tok/s ~62 at 32K | $3,757.78 eBay | $58/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~140 tok/s ~130 at 32K | $4,450 eBay | $139/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX A6000 card | 48 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~130 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $4,500 eBay | $93/GB |
| Apple Mac Studio M4 Max, 128 GB desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~98 tok/s ~94 at 32K | $4,899 eBay | $38/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 card | 32 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~190 tok/s ~180 at 32K | $4,920.99 eBay | $153/GB |
| ASUS Ascent GX10 desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~63 tok/s ~60 at 32K | $5,899.99 eBay | $46/GB |
| Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max, 128 GB laptop | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~110 tok/s ~100 at 32K | $5,952.43 eBay | $46/GB |
| Apple Mac Studio M5 Max, 128 GB desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~110 tok/s ~100 at 32K | $5,999 eBay | $46/GB |
| Acer Veriton GN100 desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~63 tok/s ~60 at 32K | $6,367.19 eBay | $49/GB |
| HP ZGX Nano AI Station desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~63 tok/s ~60 at 32K | $7,028.73 eBay | $54/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell card | 48 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~170 tok/s ~160 at 32K | $7,099.99 eBay | $147/GB |
| NVIDIA DGX Spark desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~63 tok/s ~60 at 32K | $7,300 eBay | $57/GB |
| Gigabyte AI TOP ATOM desktop box | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~63 tok/s ~60 at 32K | $7,416.62 eBay | $57/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada card | 48 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~140 tok/s ~140 at 32K | $7,684.05 eBay | $160/GB |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 desktop, 192 GB desktop box | 192 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~51 tok/s ~49 at 32K | $8,099.99 eBay | $42/GB |
| Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra, 256 GB desktop box | 256 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~130 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $8,549.99 eBay | $33/GB |
| Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra, 256 GB desktop box | 256 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~150 tok/s ~150 at 32K | $13,499 eBay | $52/GB |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe card | 80 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~190 tok/s ~190 at 32K | $14,018.71 eBay | $175/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell card | 96 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~190 tok/s ~180 at 32K | $16,499 eBay | $171/GB |
| Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra, 512 GB desktop box | 512 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~130 tok/s ~120 at 32K | $16,999 eBay | $33/GB |
| NVIDIA H100 80GB PCIe card | 80 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~190 tok/s ~190 at 32K | $27,180.38 eBay | $339/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X laptop, 128 GB laptop | 128 GB | fits 128K+ ctx | ~68 tok/s ~65 at 32K | no live price | |
| NVIDIA Tesla P100 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~50 tok/s ~48 at 32K | $127.63 eBay | $7/GB |
| AMD Radeon Instinct MI50 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~50 tok/s ~49 at 32K | $246 eBay | $15/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB card | 12 GB | with 9 GB in system RAM | ~31 tok/s ~30 at 32K | $289.94 eBay | $24/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~45 tok/s ~43 at 32K | $617.99 eBay | $38/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~39 tok/s ~38 at 32K | $670 eBay | $41/GB |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB card | 20 GB | with 1 GB in system RAM | ~91 tok/s ~85 at 32K | $699.99 eBay | $34/GB |
| AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~46 tok/s ~44 at 32K | $799.97 eBay | $49/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX A4000 card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~45 tok/s ~43 at 32K | $950 eBay | $59/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~51 tok/s ~50 at 32K | $1,007.98 eBay | $62/GB |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB card | 16 GB | with 5 GB in system RAM | ~52 tok/s ~50 at 32K | $1,500 eBay | $93/GB |
| NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada card | 20 GB | with 1 GB in system RAM | ~58 tok/s ~54 at 32K | $1,511.06 eBay | $75/GB |
Estimates assume llama.cpp-style inference for one user. Cards that cannot hold the weights run with the overflow in system RAM, assuming 64 GB, which is slower; see how we estimate. Prices are the cheapest live eBay listing that passed our filters, item plus shipping.