diff --git a/envconfig/config.go b/envconfig/config.go
index 3a682c42..4d2150b7 100644
--- a/envconfig/config.go
+++ b/envconfig/config.go
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ var (
 	NumParallel int
 	// Set via OLLAMA_RUNNERS_DIR in the environment
 	RunnersDir string
+	// Set via OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD in the environment
+	SchedSpread bool
 	// Set via OLLAMA_TMPDIR in the environment
 	TmpDir string
 )
@@ -79,6 +81,7 @@ func AsMap() map[string]EnvVar {
 		"OLLAMA_NUM_PARALLEL":      {"OLLAMA_NUM_PARALLEL", NumParallel, "Maximum number of parallel requests (default 1)"},
 		"OLLAMA_ORIGINS":           {"OLLAMA_ORIGINS", AllowOrigins, "A comma separated list of allowed origins"},
 		"OLLAMA_RUNNERS_DIR":       {"OLLAMA_RUNNERS_DIR", RunnersDir, "Location for runners"},
+		"OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD":      {"OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD", SchedSpread, "Always schedule model across all GPUs"},
 		"OLLAMA_TMPDIR":            {"OLLAMA_TMPDIR", TmpDir, "Location for temporary files"},
 	}
 }
@@ -191,6 +194,15 @@ func LoadConfig() {
 		NoHistory = true
 	}
 
+	if spread := clean("OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD"); spread != "" {
+		s, err := strconv.ParseBool(spread)
+		if err == nil {
+			SchedSpread = s
+		} else {
+			SchedSpread = true
+		}
+	}
+
 	if noprune := clean("OLLAMA_NOPRUNE"); noprune != "" {
 		NoPrune = true
 	}
diff --git a/server/sched.go b/server/sched.go
index c36486f7..6bf5eb1f 100644
--- a/server/sched.go
+++ b/server/sched.go
@@ -558,10 +558,12 @@ func pickBestFitGPUs(req *LlmRequest, ggml *llm.GGML, gpus gpu.GpuInfoList) gpu.
 		sort.Sort(sort.Reverse(gpu.ByFreeMemory(sgl)))
 
 		// First attempt to fit the model into a single GPU
-		for _, g := range sgl {
-			if ok, estimatedVRAM = llm.PredictServerFit([]gpu.GpuInfo{g}, ggml, req.model.AdapterPaths, req.model.ProjectorPaths, req.opts); ok {
-				slog.Debug("new model will fit in available VRAM in single GPU, loading", "model", req.model.ModelPath, "gpu", g.ID, "available", g.FreeMemory, "required", format.HumanBytes2(estimatedVRAM))
-				return []gpu.GpuInfo{g}
+		if !envconfig.SchedSpread {
+			for _, g := range sgl {
+				if ok, estimatedVRAM = llm.PredictServerFit([]gpu.GpuInfo{g}, ggml, req.model.AdapterPaths, req.model.ProjectorPaths, req.opts); ok {
+					slog.Debug("new model will fit in available VRAM in single GPU, loading", "model", req.model.ModelPath, "gpu", g.ID, "available", g.FreeMemory, "required", format.HumanBytes2(estimatedVRAM))
+					return []gpu.GpuInfo{g}
+				}
 			}
 		}