VOOZH about

URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/granite-4.1-3b-on-dgx-spark-128gb


Can Granite 4.1 3B run on NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GB?

YES — With F16

B61Good
Estimated from fit model

Granite 4.1 3B needs ~21.6 GB VRAM. NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GB has 0 MB. With F16 quantization, expect ~40 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced
Share:

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Granite 4.1 3B at Q4_K_M needs 4.3 GB — too much for NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GB (0.0 GB). Runs at F16 (21.6 GB) with maximum quality. 8 quantization levels fit.
Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 17.3 GB, 42.0 tok/s, Runs well
17.3 GB required108.8 GB available
16% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

42.0 tok/s

TTFT

4610 ms

Safe context

131K

Memory

17.3 GB / 108.8 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.8 GB
KV Cache1.2 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom13.1 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGranite 4.1 3B on NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort: def quicksort(arr): if len(arr) <= 1: return arr pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2] left = [x for x in arr if x < pivot] middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot] right = [x for x in arr if x > pivot] return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right) # Example usage numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1] print(quicksort(numbers)) # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10] The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]: """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm. Args: arr: List of integers to sort. Returns: A new sorted list. """ if len(arr) <= 1: return arr pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2] left = [x for x in arr if x < pivot] middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot] right = [x for x in arr if x > pivot] return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right) Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 42.0 tok/s decode · 4.6s TTFT (warm) · 105 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Shared-memory contention still exists

The OS, browser, and inference runtime all compete for the same physical memory pool, so real-world headroom is less forgiving than raw capacity suggests.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatBRuns well42.0 tok/s2514 ms131K
CodingFToo heavy16.1 tok/s12016 ms4K
Agentic CodingBRuns well42.0 tok/s6705 ms131K
ReasoningBRuns well42.0 tok/s5448 ms131K
RAGBRuns well42.0 tok/s8381 ms131K

Quantization options

How Granite 4.1 3B (3B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
1.2 GB
LowB56
Q3_K_S
3
1.5 GB
LowB56
NVFP4
4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Granite 4.1 3B on your machine.

Run

ollama run granite4.1:3b

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Granite 4.1 3B well

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GBBudget pick
256 GB Unified (+128)819 GB/s (+546)
B
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.42 tok/s decode

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$6,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GBSee all hardware for Granite 4.1 3B
1.7 GB
Medium
B56
Q4_K_M
4
1.8 GB
MediumB56
Q5_K_M
5
2.2 GB
HighB56
Q6_K
6
2.5 GB
HighB56
Q8_0
8
3.2 GB
Very HighB56
F16Best for your GPU
16
6.1 GB
MaximumB56