diff --git a/obliteratus/evaluation/evaluator.py b/obliteratus/evaluation/evaluator.py
index 92801da..e79d7c6 100644
--- a/obliteratus/evaluation/evaluator.py
+++ b/obliteratus/evaluation/evaluator.py
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ class Evaluator:
             desc="Evaluating PPL",
         ):
             batch_texts = ds[i : i + self.batch_size][self.text_column]
-
             # Defensive filtering in case a custom dataset returns unexpected
             # values after selection or transformation.
             batch_texts = [
diff --git a/obliteratus/models/loader.py b/obliteratus/models/loader.py
index 4bf9815..38a3e0c 100644
--- a/obliteratus/models/loader.py
+++ b/obliteratus/models/loader.py
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ class ModelHandle:
         for k, v in self._original_state.items():
             target = current_state[k].device if k in current_state else None
             restored[k] = v.to(target) if target is not None else v
-        self.model.load_state_dict(restored)
+        self.model.load_state_dict(restored, strict=False)
 
     def cleanup(self):
         """Remove temporary offload directory if one was auto-created."""
@@ -622,26 +622,46 @@ def load_model(
             load_kwargs["offload_folder"] = _offload_dir
             logger.info(f"Auto-created offload folder: {_offload_dir}")
 
-        # Reserve GPU headroom for inference (KV cache, activations, generate()).
-        # Without this, device_map="auto" packs 100% of layers onto GPU, leaving
-        # no room for forward passes or generation on tight-memory setups.
-        if dev.is_cuda():
-            max_memory = {}
-            for i in range(dev.device_count()):
-                total = torch.cuda.get_device_properties(i).total_memory
-                # Reserve 15% or 2 GiB (whichever is larger) for inference headroom
-                reserve = max(int(total * 0.15), 2 * 1024 ** 3)
-                usable = total - reserve
-                max_memory[i] = f"{usable // (1024 ** 2)}MiB"
-            # Allow overflow to CPU RAM, capped at 85% of physical memory
-            # to leave room for the OS, Python runtime, and serialization buffers.
-            total_ram, _ = dev._system_memory_gb()
-            cpu_budget_gb = int(total_ram * 0.85)
-            max_memory["cpu"] = f"{max(cpu_budget_gb, 4)}GiB"
-            load_kwargs["max_memory"] = max_memory
-            logger.info(
-                f"GPU memory budget: {', '.join(f'GPU{k}={v}' for k, v in max_memory.items() if k != 'cpu')}"
-            )
+        # Skip max_memory when quantization shrinks the model enough to fit
+        if quantization in ("4bit", "8bit") and est_gb > 0 and gpu_gb > 0:
+            quant_factor = 4 if quantization == "4bit" else 2
+            quant_est_gb = est_gb / quant_factor
+            if quant_est_gb < gpu_gb * 0.7:
+                logger.info(
+                    f"Quantized estimate ({quant_est_gb:.1f} GB) fits GPU "
+                    f"({gpu_gb:.0f} GB) — skipping max_memory constraint"
+                )
+            else:
+                if dev.is_cuda():
+                    max_memory = {}
+                    for i in range(dev.device_count()):
+                        total = torch.cuda.get_device_properties(i).total_memory
+                        reserve = max(int(total * 0.15), 2 * 1024 ** 3)
+                        usable = total - reserve
+                        max_memory[i] = f"{usable // (1024 ** 2)}MiB"
+                    total_ram, _ = dev._system_memory_gb()
+                    cpu_budget_gb = int(total_ram * 0.85)
+                    max_memory["cpu"] = f"{max(cpu_budget_gb, 4)}GiB"
+                    load_kwargs["max_memory"] = max_memory
+                    logger.info(
+                        f"GPU memory budget: {', '.join(f'GPU{k}={v}' for k, v in max_memory.items() if k != 'cpu')}"
+                    )
+        else:
+            # No quantization — use original max_memory logic
+            if dev.is_cuda():
+                max_memory = {}
+                for i in range(dev.device_count()):
+                    total = torch.cuda.get_device_properties(i).total_memory
+                    reserve = max(int(total * 0.15), 2 * 1024 ** 3)
+                    usable = total - reserve
+                    max_memory[i] = f"{usable // (1024 ** 2)}MiB"
+                total_ram, _ = dev._system_memory_gb()
+                cpu_budget_gb = int(total_ram * 0.85)
+                max_memory["cpu"] = f"{max(cpu_budget_gb, 4)}GiB"
+                load_kwargs["max_memory"] = max_memory
+                logger.info(
+                    f"GPU memory budget: {', '.join(f'GPU{k}={v}' for k, v in max_memory.items() if k != 'cpu')}"
+                )
 
     try:
         model = model_cls.from_pretrained(**load_kwargs)
@@ -731,12 +751,20 @@ def load_model(
                 )
             else:
                 handle.snapshot()
-        elif gpu_gb > 0 and est_gb > 0 and est_gb > gpu_gb * 0.5:
-            logger.warning(
-                f"Auto-skipping state dict snapshot to save memory "
-                f"(model ~{est_gb:.0f} GB vs GPU {gpu_gb:.0f} GB). "
-                f"Use skip_snapshot=False to force."
-            )
+        elif gpu_gb > 0 and est_gb > 0:
+            effective_gb = est_gb
+            if quantization == "4bit":
+                effective_gb = est_gb / 4
+            elif quantization == "8bit":
+                effective_gb = est_gb / 2
+            if effective_gb > gpu_gb * 0.5:
+                logger.warning(
+                    f"Auto-skipping state dict snapshot to save memory "
+                    f"(model ~{effective_gb:.0f} GB vs GPU {gpu_gb:.0f} GB). "
+                    f"Use skip_snapshot=False to force."
+                )
+            else:
+                handle.snapshot()
         else:
             handle.snapshot()
 
diff --git a/obliteratus/runner.py b/obliteratus/runner.py
index 3d8cf39..d3bc069 100644
--- a/obliteratus/runner.py
+++ b/obliteratus/runner.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def run_study(config: StudyConfig) -> AblationReport:
         dtype=config.model.dtype,
         trust_remote_code=config.model.trust_remote_code,
         num_labels=config.model.num_labels,
+        quantization=getattr(config.model, "quantization", None),
     )
     console.print(f"  Architecture: {handle.architecture}")
     console.print(f"  Layers: {handle.num_layers}  Heads: {handle.num_heads}")