BLOOM-3B TPS calculator

Open weights Hugging Face,BigScience 3B parameters July 2022

Each card below is assessed against this model at the context length and minimum quality you choose. Speed is an estimate for a single request, calculated from the card's memory bandwidth and the size of the model once compressed.

Calculated for this model

818 cards that can run it

818 cards we hold specifications for

Smallest card that fits

Tesla C1080

4 GB · Q6_K · 17.9 tok/s

Fastest card

B200

1,129 tok/s · 180 GB

Which GPUs can run BLOOM-3B?

Set the inputs, read the answer

Context length tokens

A longer conversation needs more memory, which can push this model off smaller cards.

Minimum quality

Hides cards that would only fit the model by compressing it below this point.

Search cards

Card memory

Also show cards that cannot run it

818 cards match

Calculating

					Needs	Quantisation	Fit
1,129 tok/s 678–1,807 · low confidence	B200 NVIDIA	180 GB	8,000 GB/s	Jan 2024	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
1,129 tok/s 678–1,807 · low confidence	B300 NVIDIA	288 GB	8,000 GB/s	Sep 2025	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
902 tok/s 541–1,443 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI350X AMD	288 GB	8,190 GB/s	Jan 2025	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
902 tok/s 541–1,443 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI355X AMD	288 GB	8,190 GB/s	Jan 2025	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
721 tok/s 433–1,154 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300 AMD	128 GB	6,550 GB/s	Jan 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
690 tok/s 414–1,105 · low confidence	H200 NVL NVIDIA	141 GB	4,890 GB/s	Nov 2024	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
690 tok/s 414–1,105 · low confidence	H200 SXM 141 GB NVIDIA	141 GB	4,890 GB/s	Nov 2024	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
661 tok/s 396–1,057 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI325X AMD	256 GB	6,000 GB/s	Oct 2024	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
586 tok/s 352–938 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300A AMD	128 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
586 tok/s 352–938 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI300X AMD	192 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
586 tok/s 352–938 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI308X AMD	192 GB	5,325 GB/s	Dec 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
556 tok/s 334–890 · low confidence	H100 NVL 94 GB NVIDIA	94 GB	3,940 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
474 tok/s 285–759 · low confidence	H100 PCIe 96 GB NVIDIA	96 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
474 tok/s 285–759 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	3,360 GB/s	Oct 2022	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
474 tok/s 285–759 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 94 GB NVIDIA	94 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
474 tok/s 285–759 · low confidence	H100 SXM5 96 GB NVIDIA	96 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
474 tok/s 285–759 · low confidence	H800 SXM5 NVIDIA	80 GB	3,360 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
361 tok/s 217–578 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI250 AMD	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Nov 2021	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
361 tok/s 217–578 · low confidence	Radeon Instinct MI250X AMD	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Nov 2021	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
301 tok/s 181–482 · low confidence	Data Center GPU Max 1550 Intel	128 GB	3,280 GB/s	Jan 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
295 tok/s 177–471 · low confidence	Data Center GPU Max Subsystem Intel	128 GB	3,210 GB/s	Jan 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
288 tok/s 173–461 · low confidence	A100 SXM4 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Nov 2020	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
288 tok/s 173–461 · low confidence	A100X NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Jun 2021	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
288 tok/s 173–461 · low confidence	A800 SXM4 80 GB NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Aug 2022	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable
288 tok/s 173–461 · low confidence	H100 CNX NVIDIA	80 GB	2,040 GB/s	Mar 2023	3.9 GB	Q8_0	Comfortable

Speeds are estimates for a single request — one conversation at a time — calculated from memory bandwidth, model size and quantisation. Real throughput varies with the inference runtime and its version. Figures published by hardware vendors measure many simultaneous requests and are much higher.

On record

Full specification

Everything on record for this model. Most of it describes how it was trained rather than how it runs — useful context for judging how much work went into it, and how it compares with models built at a different scale.

Origin

Who built this model, where, and when it was published.

Organisation: Hugging Face,BigScience
Organisation type: Industry,Research collective
Country: United States of America, France
Published: 5 July 2022
Authors: Margaret Mitchell, Giada Pistilli, Yacine Jernite, Ezinwanne Ozoani, Marissa Gerchick, Nazneen Rajani, Sasha Luccioni, Irene Solaiman, Maraim Masoud, Somaieh Nikpoor, Carlos Muñoz Ferrandis, Stas Bekman, Christopher Akiki, Danish Contractor, David Lansky, Angelina McMillan-Major, Tristan Thrush, Suzana Ilić, Gérard Dupont, Shayne Longpre, Manan Dey, Stella Biderman, Douwe Kiela, Emi Baylor, Teven …

What it does

The problem areas the model was built for. A model can carry several of each.

Domain: Language
Task: Language modeling/generation

Size

How large the model is and how much data it was trained on. Parameters are the figure that decides whether it fits on a given graphics card.

Parameters: 3B
Training data: 354,000,000,000 tokens
Epochs: 1

Availability

Whether you can obtain the model and run it on your own hardware, which is what decides if any of the graphics-card figures on this page apply.

Weights: Open — downloadable
Model access: Open weights (restricted use)
Training code: Unreleased

How it is classified

Labels the source dataset applies when tracking notable models, and how confident it is in the entry.

Record confidence: Confident
Citations: 2,917
Benchmark data: BLOOM-3B

Sources

Where this record came from and when it was last checked.

Reference: BigScience Language Open-science Open-access Multilingual (BLOOM) Language Model
Last updated: 25 May 2026

The extremes

The ten fastest GPUs that run BLOOM-3B

Ranked by estimated tokens per second, newest card first where speeds tie. Because generation is bound by memory bandwidth, this ordering follows bandwidth rather than any gaming benchmark.

The smallest GPUs that still run BLOOM-3B

The cheapest route in, by memory capacity. A tight fit runs the model but leaves nothing spare for a longer conversation.

What the numbers mean

What you need to run it

Minimum card

Tesla C1080

Memory needed

3.2 GB

Fastest

1,129 tok/s

BLOOM-3B is small enough at 3B parameters that hardware is rarely the obstacle — 818 of the cards we track can run it, including cards several years old.

The least hardware that works is a Tesla C1080. Its 4 GB is enough at Q6_K compression, giving roughly 17.9 tokens per second.

At the other end, a B200 generates roughly 1,129 tokens per second on it, on the strength of 8,000 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Background

BLOOM-3B was published by Hugging Face,BigScience, in United States of America, in July 2022. The organisation is categorised as industry,Research collective.

It works in Language, and is recorded as doing language modeling/generation.

The weights are published, so it can be downloaded and run on your own hardware indefinitely, offline, with no account attached.

Reading the throughput figures

Across every card that can run it, the middle of the range is about 35.8 tokens per second, and 780 of them clear the ten tokens per second that roughly matches reading speed.

Being dense, it reads all of itself per token, which is why the ordering by speed below follows the ordering by memory bandwidth so closely.

Its internal architecture is not on file, so memory is approximated from the parameter count and marked accordingly. Expect the real figure to differ, more so at long context.

What went into building it

Around 354,000,000,000 tokens went into training it.

Step by step

How to choose a GPU for BLOOM-3B

The table above has already assessed every card we hold specifications for against this model. Getting to your answer takes six steps.

01

Start from the memory column

The table lists every card that can hold BLOOM-3B — around 3.2 GB at Q6_K. That figure, not the card's headline performance, is what decides whether it runs.
02

Match the context to your actual use

Set the context to what you will actually use. The cache grows with the conversation, and it is the usual reason BLOOM-3B stops fitting a card that seemed fine.
03

Choose how far you will compress it

The quantisation column varies by card, because a bigger card holds a more accurate copy of BLOOM-3B — Q6_K on the smallest card that fits. Set a floor to hold the comparison at one level.
04

Sort by speed

The speed ordering for BLOOM-3B is effectively an ordering by memory bandwidth, which is why the B200 tops it at 1,129 tok/s.
05

Look at the headroom, not just the fit

A tight fit runs BLOOM-3B but leaves nothing spare for a longer conversation; comfortable has headroom. If you expect to grow the context, buy for comfortable.
06

Check the card from the other side

Each card page repeats this sweep for every model we hold. It answers what else the hardware is good for, beyond BLOOM-3B.

Answers

BLOOM-3B — common questions

How much VRAM does BLOOM-3B need?

About 3.2 GB at Q6_K compression, which is what the smallest card that runs it uses. Less compression needs more: the figures in the memory column above are recalculated for each card, because each one holds the least-compressed version it can.

Can I run BLOOM-3B on a 8 GB GPU?

Yes. A CMP 170HX 8 GB with 8 GB runs it at Q8_0, using about 3.9 GB and generating roughly 210 tokens per second — a comfortable fit.

Can I run BLOOM-3B on a 12 GB GPU?

Yes. A GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with 12 GB runs it at Q8_0, using about 3.9 GB and generating roughly 129 tokens per second — a comfortable fit.

Can I run BLOOM-3B on a 16 GB GPU?

Yes. A Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB with 16 GB runs it at Q8_0, using about 3.9 GB and generating roughly 160 tokens per second — a comfortable fit.

Can I run BLOOM-3B on a 24 GB GPU?

Yes. A GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 with 24 GB runs it at Q8_0, using about 3.9 GB and generating roughly 189 tokens per second — a comfortable fit.

Is BLOOM-3B open source?

Its weights are published, so BLOOM-3B can be downloaded and run on your own hardware. Note that open weights is not the same as open source in the full sense — it says nothing about the training data, the training code, or the commercial terms attached.

How many parameters does BLOOM-3B have?

BLOOM-3B has 3B parameters. That figure is the total, and it is what decides how much memory the model needs — roughly half a gigabyte per billion at the compression most people use.

Who created BLOOM-3B?

BLOOM-3B was published by Hugging Face,BigScience, based in United States of America, categorised as industry,Research collective.

When was BLOOM-3B released?

BLOOM-3B was published in July 2022. Capability per parameter has improved considerably since, so a newer model of the same size is often the better use of the same hardware.

What is BLOOM-3B used for?

BLOOM-3B works in Language, and is recorded as handling language modeling/generation. Models frequently carry more than one of each, and the tags describe purpose rather than capability limits.

Where can I download BLOOM-3B?

The weights for BLOOM-3B are published, though we do not hold a repository link for it. This site calculates hardware requirements rather than hosting model files.

Can I run BLOOM-3B if it does not fit in my GPU?

Partly. Layers that do not fit sit in system memory and run at a fraction of the speed, so a mostly-offloaded BLOOM-3B is rarely worth using. Every figure here assumes the whole model is on the card.

Would two GPUs run BLOOM-3B faster?

Capacity adds across cards; throughput does not. Since 818 of the cards we track already hold BLOOM-3B on their own, a second card is rarely the answer here.

Why does the quantisation differ between cards for BLOOM-3B?

Each card is shown running the least-compressed copy it can hold, and BLOOM-3B appears at 2 different compression levels across the cards that fit it. Bigger cards get the more accurate version.

How accurate are these BLOOM-3B speed estimates?

They are calculated from specifications rather than measured, and each carries a range — 678–1,807 tok/s on the B200, for instance. The same model and card vary by thirty to fifty per cent depending on the inference software and its version.

What GPU do I need to run BLOOM-3B?

The smallest card in our catalogue that holds BLOOM-3B is the Tesla C1080, with 4 GB of memory. It runs the model at Q6_K using about 3.2 GB, and produces roughly 17.9 tokens per second. 818 cards in total can run it.

How fast is BLOOM-3B on a GPU?

It depends on the card. The quickest we calculate is a B200 at about 1,129 tokens per second; the slowest that still runs it manages considerably less. Reading speed is around ten tokens per second, and 780 of the cards that can run BLOOM-3B clear that.

Source

Original publication

Record last updated 25 May 2026

The other direction

Looking at it from the other side?

This page starts from the model. If you already own a card and want to know everything it will run, start from the hardware instead.

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