diff --git a/studio/backend/routes/models.py b/studio/backend/routes/models.py
index 1e27b19b12..1331aa5fd3 100644
--- a/studio/backend/routes/models.py
+++ b/studio/backend/routes/models.py
@@ -607,10 +607,15 @@ async def get_gguf_variants(
 @router.get("/gguf-download-progress")
 async def get_gguf_download_progress(
     repo_id: str = Query(..., description = "HuggingFace repo ID"),
+    variant: str = Query("", description = "Quantization variant (e.g. UD-TQ1_0)"),
     expected_bytes: int = Query(0, description = "Expected total download size in bytes"),
     current_subject: str = Depends(get_current_subject),
 ):
-    """Return download progress by checking current size of cached GGUF files."""
+    """Return download progress by checking cached GGUF files for a specific variant.
+
+    Tracks completed shard downloads in snapshots and in-progress downloads
+    in the blobs directory (incomplete files).
+    """
     import re as _re
 
     try:
@@ -625,25 +630,31 @@ async def get_gguf_download_progress(
 
         cache_dir = Path(hf_constants.HF_HUB_CACHE)
         target = f"models--{repo_id.replace('/', '--')}".lower()
+        variant_lower = variant.lower().replace("-", "").replace("_", "")
         downloaded_bytes = 0
+        in_progress_bytes = 0
         for entry in cache_dir.iterdir():
             if entry.name.lower() == target:
-                # Sum .gguf files in snapshots + incomplete downloads in blobs
+                # Count completed .gguf files matching this variant in snapshots
                 for f in entry.rglob("*.gguf"):
-                    downloaded_bytes += f.stat().st_size
-                # Also check incomplete downloads (blobs without extension)
+                    fname = f.name.lower().replace("-", "").replace("_", "")
+                    if not variant_lower or variant_lower in fname:
+                        downloaded_bytes += f.stat().st_size
+                # Check blobs for in-progress downloads (.incomplete files)
                 blobs_dir = entry / "blobs"
                 if blobs_dir.is_dir():
                     for f in blobs_dir.iterdir():
-                        if f.is_file():
-                            downloaded_bytes += f.stat().st_size
+                        if f.is_file() and f.name.endswith(".incomplete"):
+                            in_progress_bytes += f.stat().st_size
                 break
 
-        progress = (
-            min(downloaded_bytes / expected_bytes, 1.0) if expected_bytes > 0 else 0
-        )
+        total_progress_bytes = downloaded_bytes + in_progress_bytes
+        progress = min(total_progress_bytes / expected_bytes, 0.99) if expected_bytes > 0 else 0
+        # Only report 1.0 when all bytes are in completed files (not in-progress)
+        if expected_bytes > 0 and downloaded_bytes >= expected_bytes:
+            progress = 1.0
         return {
-            "downloaded_bytes": downloaded_bytes,
+            "downloaded_bytes": total_progress_bytes,
             "expected_bytes": expected_bytes,
             "progress": round(progress, 3),
         }
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/api/chat-api.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/api/chat-api.ts
index 5831642606..be105e86be 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/api/chat-api.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/api/chat-api.ts
@@ -105,10 +105,12 @@ export interface CachedGgufRepo {
 
 export async function getGgufDownloadProgress(
   repoId: string,
+  variant: string,
   expectedBytes: number,
 ): Promise<{ downloaded_bytes: number; expected_bytes: number; progress: number }> {
   const params = new URLSearchParams({
     repo_id: repoId,
+    variant,
     expected_bytes: String(expectedBytes),
   });
   const response = await authFetch(`/api/models/gguf-download-progress?${params}`);
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/hooks/use-chat-model-runtime.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/hooks/use-chat-model-runtime.ts
index 07a1208287..04633ae767 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/hooks/use-chat-model-runtime.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/hooks/use-chat-model-runtime.ts
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ export function useChatModelRuntime() {
         extraLoadingDescription ?? null,
         isDownloaded
           ? "Loading cached model into memory."
-          : "This may include downloading. Large models can take a while.",
+          : "Downloading and loading model. Large models can take a while.",
       ]
         .filter(Boolean)
         .join(" ");
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ export function useChatModelRuntime() {
                 return;
               }
               try {
-                const prog = await getGgufDownloadProgress(modelId, expectedBytes);
+                const prog = await getGgufDownloadProgress(modelId, ggufVariant ?? "", expectedBytes);
                 if (prog.progress > 0 && prog.progress < 1) {
                   const dlGb = prog.downloaded_bytes / (1024 ** 3);
                   const totalGb = prog.expected_bytes / (1024 ** 3);