How Much VRAM Does Mistral 7B v0.3 Need to Run Locally?
See devices that run itMistral 7B v0.3 is a dense model with 7.3B parameters. At Q4 it needs at least 7GB of VRAM, and 8GB is the comfortable amount for an 8K context. The cheapest device that holds it is the GeForce RTX 4080, with no used-price data yet, at roughly 99.7 tokens/s.
Mistral 7B v0.3 details
VRAM needed for Mistral 7B v0.3 by quantization and context
Total at 8K| Quantization | WeightsGB | Total at 8KGB | Total at 32KGB | Total at 128KGB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 4.4GGUF | 6 | 9 | — |
| Q5_K_M | 5.1GGUF | 6.9 | 9.9 | — |
| Q8_0 | 7.7GGUF | 9.5 | 12.5 | — |
| FP16 | 14.2est. | 16.2 | 19.2 | — |
Total = weights + KV cache (FP16) + 1GB runtime overhead. Weights marked GGUF are measured file sizes from the repository; the rest are estimated from bytes per parameter. Contexts beyond this model's 32K limit show a dash.
Which GPUs can run Mistral 7B v0.3?
Q4_K_M · 8K context · sorted by eBay used price| Device | VRAMGB | Used price | Est. t/s | Suggested context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | —No listings | 99.7 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 122.2 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 130 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 65.5 | 32K | |
| 20 | —No listings | 80.8 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 42.8 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 127.1 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 135.8 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 174.7 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 95.7 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 93.9 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 56.4 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 56.4 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 102.2 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 222.6 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 222.6 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 119.9 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 65.5 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 59.2 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 122.2 | 32K | |
| 40 | —No listings | 197.8 | 32K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 135.8 | 32K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 86.8 | 32K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 174.7 | 32K | |
| 64 | —No listings | 154.9 | 32K | |
| 72 | —No listings | 174.7 | 32K | |
| Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB | 128 | —No listings | 61.6 | 32K |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB | 256 | —No listings | 90.2 | 32K |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB | 512 | —No listings | 90.2 | 32K |
Fits when weights + KV cache + runtime overhead is at or below usable memory, single card. "Offload" on MoE models means it runs with expert weights in system RAM (only attention layers and KV cache stay in VRAM); that speed assumes 70 GB/s RAM bandwidth. The context column is the largest tier that fits.
Run Mistral 7B v0.3 with Ollama, llama.cpp or vLLM
Ollama pulls and runs it in one command; the quantization comes from the official tag.
ollama run mistral:7b
llama.cpp pulls the GGUF straight from Hugging Face; -c sets the context length.
llama-server -hf bartowski/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3-GGUF:Q4_K_M -c 8192
vLLM serves the original-precision weights, which needs far more memory than GGUF and usually more than one GPU.
vllm serve mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3
File names follow that week's model-library snapshot; the definitions are in the methodology. Methodology
FAQ
How much VRAM does Mistral 7B v0.3 need?
At Q4_K_M with an 8K context Mistral 7B v0.3 needs about 7GB of VRAM; 8GB leaves comfortable headroom.
What is the cheapest GPU that runs Mistral 7B v0.3?
The GeForce RTX 4080: 16GB of VRAM at roughly 99.7 tokens/s. We have no used-price data for it yet.
Can you run Mistral 7B v0.3 with Ollama?
Yes: ollama run mistral:7b.