How Much VRAM Does Mistral Nemo Need to Run Locally?
See devices that run itMistral Nemo is a dense model with 12.3B parameters. At Q4 it needs at least 10GB of VRAM, and 12GB is the comfortable amount for an 8K context. The cheapest device that holds it is the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, with no used-price data yet, at roughly 54.2 tokens/s.
Mistral Nemo details
VRAM needed for Mistral Nemo by quantization and context
Total at 8K| Quantization | WeightsGB | Total at 8KGB | Total at 32KGB | Total at 128KGB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 7.5GGUF | 9.1 | 12.8 | 27.8 |
| Q5_K_M | 8.7GGUF | 10.5 | 14.3 | 29.3 |
| Q8_0 | 13GGUF | 14.9 | 18.7 | 33.7 |
| FP16 | 24.5GGUF | 26.2 | 30 | 45 |
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 128K limit show a dash.
Which GPUs can run Mistral Nemo?
Q4_K_M · 8K context · sorted by eBay used price| Device | VRAMGB | Used price | Est. t/s | Suggested context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | —No listings | 54.2 | 8K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 62.7 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 77.3 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 82.5 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 39.7 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 40.7 | 32K | |
| 16 | —No listings | 77.7 | 32K | |
| 20 | —No listings | 50.5 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 26.4 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 80.6 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 86.3 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 112.5 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 60.1 | 32K | |
| 24 | —No listings | 58.9 | 32K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 35 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 35 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 64.3 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 145.7 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 145.7 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 75.9 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 40.7 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 36.7 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 77.3 | 128K | |
| 32 | —No listings | 77.7 | 128K | |
| 40 | —No listings | 128.4 | 128K | |
| 40 | —No listings | 128.8 | 128K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 86.3 | 128K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 54.3 | 128K | |
| 48 | —No listings | 112.5 | 128K | |
| 64 | —No listings | 123.8 | 128K | |
| 64 | —No listings | 99.1 | 128K | |
| 72 | —No listings | 112.5 | 128K | |
| 84 | —No listings | 129.3 | 128K | |
| 96 | —No listings | 145.7 | 128K | |
| Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB | 128 | —No listings | 38.3 | 128K |
| Mac Studio M5 Max 128GB | 128 | —No listings | 42.9 | 128K |
| MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB | 128 | —No listings | 38.3 | 128K |
| MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB | 128 | —No listings | 42.9 | 128K |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB | 512 | —No listings | 56.5 | 128K |
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 Nemo with Ollama, llama.cpp or vLLM
Ollama pulls and runs it in one command; the quantization comes from the official tag.
ollama run mistral-nemo:12b
llama.cpp pulls the GGUF straight from Hugging Face; -c sets the context length.
llama-server -hf bartowski/Mistral-Nemo-Instruct-2407-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-Nemo-Instruct-2407
File names follow that week's model-library snapshot; the definitions are in the methodology. Methodology
FAQ
How much VRAM does Mistral Nemo need?
At Q4_K_M with an 8K context Mistral Nemo needs about 10GB of VRAM; 12GB leaves comfortable headroom.
What is the cheapest GPU that runs Mistral Nemo?
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti: 11GB of VRAM at roughly 54.2 tokens/s. We have no used-price data for it yet.
Can you run Mistral Nemo with Ollama?
Yes: ollama run mistral-nemo:12b.