Do You Need A GPU To Run Ollama Locally?
Ollama can run without a GPU, but expect long loading times & slow inference. A decent CPU with 16GB+ RAM will get you started. GPUs make a huge difference, especially for matrix-heavy tasks like LLM inference.
I’ve been getting this question a lot lately: “Do I really need a GPU to run Ollama?” It’s a fair question, especially if you’re just dipping your toes into the world of local LLMs. So today, let’s break down the real deal with Ollama and GPUs in a way that hopefully makes sense whether you’re a seasoned ML engineer or just someone curious about running AI models on your own hardware. What’s Ollama, Anyway? If you’re new here, Ollama is this super cool tool that lets you run large language models (LLMs) locally on your machine. Think of it as having your own personal ChatGPT-like ass...