Can the Arc B580 12 GB run Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large?
Download Q8_0 (8.8 GB). With the model's working memory it needs about 11.1 GB, leaving 0.9 GB spare on 12 GB. Quality: practically identical to the original.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | sd3.5_large-Q8_0.gguf Q8_0 · city96/stable-diffusion-3.5-large-gguf | models/unet | 8.8 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | t5xxl_fp8_e4m3fn.safetensors T5-XXL FP8 · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 4.9 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | clip_l.safetensors CLIP-L · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 0.2 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | clip_g.safetensors CLIP-G · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 1.4 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 15.3 GB | |||
Alternatives: T5-XXL FP16 (9.8 GB). The 16-bit text encoder is a little more faithful; the smaller one is chosen here because it loads faster and needs less RAM. Sizes read from Hugging Face (2026-09-25). “Download” links start the file directly; the file name links are the same files the official ComfyUI workflows use.
System RAM: 32 GB or more. ComfyUI keeps the model file, the text encoder and the VAE in system RAM and moves them to the GPU as needed. With this set of files that is about 15.3 GB, plus roughly 6 GB for Windows, ComfyUI and a browser: 21.3 GB in total. With less RAM it still runs, but Windows starts swapping to disk and loading gets very slow. calculated
02Every SD 3.5 Large file on 12 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit SAFETENSORS · stabilityai | 16.5 GB | 18.8 GB | 6.8 GB too big | the original weights | Hugging Face → |
| Q8_0 ← GGUF · city96 | 8.8 GB | 11.1 GB | fits · 0.9 GB spare | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_1 GGUF · city96 | 6.3 GB | 8.6 GB | fits · 3.4 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_1 GGUF · city96 | 5.3 GB | 7.6 GB | fits · 4.4 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
Sizes from the Hugging Face file listing, read 2026-09-25. “Needed” = file + 1.5 GB working memory for this model + 0.8 GB kept free for the system.
03The text encoder
CLIP-L + CLIP-G + T5-XXL: 9.8 GB as 16-bit, 4.9 GB as FP8 (T5-XXL sizes shown; CLIP-L and CLIP-G add about 1.6 GB). ComfyUI encodes the prompt first and can push the encoder out of VRAM before sampling, so it does not have to fit together with the model. On 12 GB the FP8 encoder fits on its own, so prompt encoding stays fast.
04About this GPU
Intel Arc GPUs run ComfyUI through PyTorch's native XPU support on Windows 11 and Linux. Memory works the same as on NVIDIA, so the fit verdicts apply. FP8 files save memory but give no speed-up, and some custom nodes are NVIDIA-only.
Arc B580 12 GB: 12 GB GDDR6 · 192-bit · 456 GB/s · Battlemage. Everything that runs on the Arc B580 12 GB →
05What more VRAM would change
Nothing to gain for this model: the Arc B580 12 GB already runs a top-quality file entirely in VRAM. More memory would only help with bigger images, longer clips or several models at once.
What changes from the Arc B580 12 GB to the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB →
06Measured and reported results
| Label | Setup | Result | Peak VRAM | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reported | fp8 · 1024x1024 · 20 steps “SD 3.5 large fp8 (20step): GOOD (26s)” Intel Arc B580 12GB, PyTorch 2.8 XPU in Docker (YanWenKun); single 1024x1024 image, pre-warmed inference only (model load excluded) | 26 s / image | — | 2025-08-03 | github.com → |
Reported results are other people's numbers, copied as published, with a link. Settings, drivers and ComfyUI versions differ, so compare them with care. Send yours.
07Questions
How much VRAM does SD 3.5 Large need?
Around 7.6 GB with the smallest file (Q4_1) and 11.1 GB with an 8-bit file (Q8_0), counting working memory and a small system reserve. The full 16-bit file needs about 18.8 GB.
Which SD 3.5 Large file should I download for the Arc B580 12 GB?
Q8_0 (8.8 GB) from city96/stable-diffusion-3.5-large-gguf. Load it with Unet Loader (GGUF) from the ComfyUI-GGUF node pack.
Is FP8 faster than GGUF on the Arc B580 12 GB?
No. This GPU has no FP8 compute, so ComfyUI converts FP8 weights back before the maths. FP8 only saves memory here; Q8_0 GGUF is the closer-to-original 8-bit pick.
How much do I need to download for SD 3.5 Large on the Arc B580 12 GB?
About 15.3 GB for the model file, text encoder and VAE listed on this page, and the same again free on disk. With a 12 GB card, 32 GB of system RAM or more is recommended.