Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Qwen-72B

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (70.6B parameters) and Qwen-72B (72.3B parameters) side by side: the memory each needs at every precision, what it costs to run on a live GPU, and the context window, KV cache and license where they are published. Numbers are computed from the models' published specs; this page does not rank quality.

Side by side

FactLlama-3.3-70B-InstructQwen-72B
Parameters70.6B72.3B
ArchitectureGrouped-query attentionMulti-head attention
Context length128K tokens32,768 tokens
LicenseLlama 3.3 Community License Agreement–
Published precisionBF16BF16
VRAM needed, As published158 GB162 GB
VRAM needed, FP878.8 GB80.8 GB
VRAM needed, INT439.4 GB40.4 GB
Cheapest live fit, As publishedRTX A5000 × 7 · $1.23/hrRTX A5000 × 7 · $1.23/hr
Cheapest live fit, FP8RTX PRO 6000 · $1.38/hrRTX PRO 6000 · $1.38/hr
Cheapest live fit, INT4RTX A6000 · $0.363/hrRTX A6000 · $0.363/hr
KV cache per token (16-bit)320 KB2.50 MB
KV cache at 32k tokens10.0 GB80.0 GB
KV cache at 128k tokens40.0 GB320 GB

VRAM is the weight size at each precision times a flat 1.2 overhead; see the methodology. The FP8 and INT4 rows need a quantized checkpoint or an engine that quantizes on load. The fit is the lowest-priced single GPU type that holds the model at that precision, or the lowest-priced multi-GPU set (up to 8) when none does. KV cache is for one sequence at 16-bit, computed from each model's config where the attention layout is known.

Which to pick

  • Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct needs less VRAM at its published precision (158 GB against 162 GB), so it fits on a smaller GPU.
  • Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct lists the longer context window (131,072 tokens against 32,768).
  • Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct caches less per sequence at 32k tokens (10.0 GB against 80.0 GB), leaving more memory for batching.

These follow only from the facts in the table above. Whether either model does your task well is a separate question this page does not answer.

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