moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct GGUF size and VRAM requirements
bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF is a very large instruction-tuned chat model with 49.12 billion parameters, built on the kimi-linear architecture. It is released under the mit license and has been downloaded 4,744 times.
To run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF locally at a 4,096-token context, its quantized versions need between 4.32 GB (GGUF, lowest quality) and 95.72 GB (BF16, highest quality) of memory, weights plus KV cache and a system margin included.
For most users the best balance is GGUF, needing about 4.32 GB. That means bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF fits entirely in the VRAM of a 6 GB GPU or larger, running fully on the GPU.
Available GGUF quantizations for bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF include GGUF, IQ1_S, IQ1_M, IQ2_XXS, IQ2_XS, IQ2_S, IQ2_M, Q2_K, Q2_K_L, IQ3_XXS, IQ3_XS, Q3_K_S, IQ3_M, Q3_K_M, Q3_K_L, Q3_K_XL, IQ4_XS, IQ4_NL, Q4_0, Q4_K_S, Q4_K_M, Q4_K_L, Q4_1, Q5_K_S, Q5_K_M, Q5_K_L, Q6_K, Q6_K_L, Q8_0, BF16. The model supports a native context length of up to 1,048,576 tokens; a longer context grows the KV cache and the memory needed.
GGUF file size and memory by quantization
Compare real GGUF weight sizes, estimated KV cache and total memory for Q4, Q5, Q8 and every quantization published in this repository.
| Quant. | Bits | Quality | Weights | KV | Total | Speed~ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GGUF | 0.02 | Very low | 0.14 GB | 3.38 GB | 4.32 GB | 2802.8 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| IQ1_S | 1.71 | Very low | 9.77 GB | 3.38 GB | 13.95 GB | 5.1 t/s | Offload |
| IQ1_M | 1.78 | Very low | 10.17 GB | 3.38 GB | 14.36 GB | 4.9 t/s | Offload |
| IQ2_XXS | 1.98 | Very low | 11.3 GB | 3.38 GB | 15.48 GB | 4.4 t/s | Offload |
| IQ2_XS | 2.26 | Very low | 12.94 GB | 3.38 GB | 17.12 GB | 3.9 t/s | Offload |
| IQ2_S | 2.27 | Very low | 13.01 GB | 3.38 GB | 17.19 GB | 3.8 t/s | Offload |
| IQ2_M | 2.57 | Very low | 14.71 GB | 3.38 GB | 18.89 GB | 3.4 t/s | Offload |
| Q2_K | 2.86 | Low | 16.33 GB | 3.38 GB | 20.51 GB | 3.1 t/s | Offload |
| Q2_K_L | 2.92 | Low | 16.67 GB | 3.38 GB | 20.85 GB | 3.0 t/s | Offload |
| IQ3_XXS | 3.2 | Low | 18.3 GB | 3.38 GB | 22.48 GB | 2.7 t/s | Offload |
| IQ3_XS | 3.33 | Fair | 19.04 GB | 3.38 GB | 23.22 GB | 2.6 t/s | Offload |
| Q3_K_S | 3.52 | Fair | 20.12 GB | 3.38 GB | 24.3 GB | — | Insufficient |
| IQ3_M | 3.69 | Fair | 21.1 GB | 3.38 GB | 25.28 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q3_K_M | 3.69 | Fair | 21.12 GB | 3.38 GB | 25.31 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q3_K_L | 3.85 | Fair | 22.0 GB | 3.38 GB | 26.18 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q3_K_XL | 3.9 | Fair | 22.3 GB | 3.38 GB | 26.49 GB | — | Insufficient |
| IQ4_XS | 4.31 | Good | 24.65 GB | 3.38 GB | 28.83 GB | — | Insufficient |
| IQ4_NL | 4.56 | Good | 26.05 GB | 3.38 GB | 30.23 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q4_0 | 4.63 | Good | 26.49 GB | 3.38 GB | 30.67 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q4_K_S | 4.72 | Good | 26.99 GB | 3.38 GB | 31.17 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q4_K_M | 4.9 | Good | 28.0 GB | 3.38 GB | 32.18 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q4_K_L | 4.94 | Good | 28.26 GB | 3.38 GB | 32.44 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q4_1 | 5.04 | Very good | 28.85 GB | 3.38 GB | 33.03 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q5_K_S | 5.54 | Very good | 31.68 GB | 3.38 GB | 35.86 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q5_K_M | 5.72 | Very good | 32.69 GB | 3.38 GB | 36.87 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q5_K_L | 5.75 | Very good | 32.9 GB | 3.38 GB | 37.09 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q6_K | 6.59 | Excellent | 37.68 GB | 3.38 GB | 41.86 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q6_K_L | 6.62 | Excellent | 37.85 GB | 3.38 GB | 42.03 GB | — | Insufficient |
| Q8_0 | 8.51 | Excellent | 48.66 GB | 3.38 GB | 52.84 GB | — | Insufficient |
| BF16 | 16.01 | Excellent | 91.54 GB | 3.38 GB | 95.72 GB | — | Insufficient |
KV cache estimated (architecture unavailable). Speed is a rough estimate bounded by memory bandwidth.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of model is bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF?
bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF is an instruction-tuned chat model with 49.12 billion parameters, based on the kimi-linear architecture. It is released under the mit license and distributed as GGUF files for local inference.
How much VRAM do you need to run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF?
You need about 4.32 GB of VRAM to run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF entirely on the GPU using the GGUF quantization (at a 4,096-token context). Smaller quantizations lower the requirement at the cost of quality.
Can I run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF on an 8 GB GPU?
Yes. With 8 GB of VRAM you can run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF fully on the GPU using GGUF (about 4.32 GB).
Can I run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF on a 16 GB GPU?
Yes. With 16 GB of VRAM you can run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF fully on the GPU using IQ2_XXS (about 15.48 GB).
Can I run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF on a 24 GB GPU?
Yes. With 24 GB of VRAM you can run bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF fully on the GPU using IQ3_XS (about 23.22 GB).
What context length does bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF support?
bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF supports a native context length of up to 1,048,576 tokens. A longer context grows the KV cache, so it increases the memory needed to run the model.
What is the best quantization for bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF?
For bartowski/moonshotai_Kimi-Linear-48B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF, a strong default is Q4_K_M, which needs about 32.18 GB and keeps most of the quality while roughly halving the memory versus 8-bit. With VRAM to spare, Q5_K_M or Q6_K add a little more quality; if you are tight on memory, a smaller quantization still runs. Pick the highest quantization that fits your VRAM.