HomeCan I run it?Mistral Small 24BMistral Small 24B on an RTX 3080
No. Mistral Small 24B at Q4_K_M needs about 17.7 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3080 10GB has 10.0 GB usable at a ~4k context.
Can I run Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3080?
Mistral Small 24B at Q4_K_M needs about 17.7 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3080 10GB has 10.0 GB usable. That figure is 10 GB of VRAM on the spec sheet, of which 10.0 GB is usable for weights and cache, at 760 GB/s memory bandwidth. Mistral’s 24B Small instruct model, a dense mid-size alternative to the 27B–32B class. These are estimates from our formula, not measured benchmarks.
- Quant that fits
- None of Q4, Q8 or FP16 needs 17.7 GB
- Memory needed
- 17.7 GB at Q4_K_M, ~4k context
- Usable VRAM
- 10.0 GB of 10 GB VRAM
- Est. tokens/sec
- n/a does not fit
Memory at each quant
| Quant | Need vs 10.0 GB | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 17.7 GB | Q4Won’t fit |
| Q8_0 | 30.3 GB | Q8Won’t fit |
| FP16 | 56.2 GB | FP16Won’t fit |
Estimated tokens per second
No speed estimate: Mistral Small 24B does not fit in the 10.0 GB this machine can use, so we do not publish a tokens/sec figure for CPU offload.
Context headroom
Even at a short ~4k context, the weights do not fit. Extending context would only increase the gap.
| Context | KV cache (FP16) | Total at Q4_K_M | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4k | 0.7 GB | 17.7 GB | Won’t fit |
| 8k | 1.3 GB | 18.4 GB | Won’t fit |
| 16k | 2.7 GB | 19.8 GB | Won’t fit |
| 32k | 5.4 GB | 22.4 GB | Won’t fit |
| 64k | 10.7 GB | 27.8 GB | Won’t fit |
| 128k | 21.5 GB | 38.5 GB | Won’t fit |
What to do instead
- Run Gemma 3 12B instead (9.5 GB at Q4). It is a different model, not a drop-in, but it does fit this machine.
- To hold Mistral Small 24B at Q4, you need about 17.7 GB. The Mac mini M6 24GB has 18.0 GB usable ($1299 Apple list price, M6 12C CPU/12C GPU, 24GB/512GB (MHQM4LL/A)).
- CPU offload can load the weights anyway, but it is slow. We do not publish an offload tokens/sec figure.
- Full hardware list: Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506. Specs for this machine: GeForce RTX 3080 10GB.
Other hardware for Mistral Small 24B
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3060 12GBWon’t fit
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3070 TiWon’t fit
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3090Fits
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 4060 Ti 16GBWon’t fit
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 4070 Ti SuperWon’t fit
- Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 4090Fits
Other models on an RTX 3080
- Qwen3-32B on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
- Qwen3-30B-A3B on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
- Qwen3.8-27B on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
- Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
- Gemma 4 31B on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
- gpt-oss-20b on an RTX 3080Won’t fit
Quick answers
- Can I run Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3080?
- No. Mistral Small 24B at Q4_K_M needs about 17.7 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3080 10GB has 10.0 GB usable.
- How much VRAM does Mistral Small 24B need?
- About 17.7 GB at Q4_K_M, 30.3 GB at Q8_0 and 56.2 GB at FP16, estimated for a ~4k context.
- How fast is Mistral Small 24B on an RTX 3080?
- We do not estimate tokens/sec when the model does not fit. CPU offload is possible but slow.
- What context length can I use?
- The weights already do not fit, so longer context is not the limiting factor.