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Nanbeige4.3-33B vs Qwen3.8-27B: VRAM and speed for running locally

Side by side: how much memory each model needs at Q4, Q8 and FP16, how the KV cache grows with context, the cheapest GPU and Mac that run each, and estimated speed on 11 common machines.

Qwen3.8-27B is lighter: about 20.4 GB at Q4 against 24.1 GB for Nanbeige4.3-33B, so it runs on 25 tracked devices vs 16. It should also be faster on the same hardware, since it reads 27.8B parameters per token against 33.1B. Which one gives better answers depends on your task, so check benchmarks for that; this page covers what it takes to run them.

Nanbeige4.3-33B vs Qwen3.8-27B: specs and memory
Nanbeige4.3-33BQwen3.8-27B
MakerNanbeigeQwen
Licenseapache-2.0apache-2.0
TypeDenseDense
Total parameters33.1B27.8B
Active per token33.1B all27.8B all
Memory at Q4_K_M24.1 GB20.4 GB
Memory at Q8_041.5 GB34.9 GB
Memory at FP1677.2 GB64.9 GB
KV cache growth213 MB per 1k tokens, FP1666 MB per 1k tokens, FP16
Memory at Q4, 32k context30.2 GB 7.0 GB cache22.2 GB 2.1 GB cache
Cheapest GPU at Q4Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB $949Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB $949
Cheapest Mac / mini PC at Q4Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB $3,199Mac mini M6 32GB $1,799
Cheapest GPU at Q8NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB $6,799NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB $6,799
Tracked devices that run it at Q416 of 8225 of 82

Estimated speed on the same hardware

Decode tokens per second at Q4_K_M from memory bandwidth (how we estimate). MoE figures are upper bounds ("up to"). Estimates, not benchmarks.

Estimated tokens per second, Nanbeige4.3-33B vs Qwen3.8-27B
DeviceNanbeige4.3-33BQwen3.8-27B
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB12 GB usable · 360 GB/s · $329doesn’t fitdoesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB16 GB usable · 288 GB/s · $499doesn’t fitdoesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 508016 GB usable · 960 GB/s · $999doesn’t fitdoesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 309024 GB usable · 936 GB/s · $1,499doesn’t fit33–47
Radeon RX 7900 XTX24 GB usable · 960 GB/s · $999doesn’t fit34–48
GeForce RTX 509032 GB usable · 1792 GB/s · $1,99954–7664–90
Mac mini M6 24GB18 GB usable · 170 GB/s · $1,299doesn’t fitdoesn’t fit
Mac mini M6 32GB24 GB usable · 170 GB/s · $1,799doesn’t fit5–8
Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB48 GB usable · 307 GB/s · $3,1997–128–15
Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) 128GB96 GB usable · 256 GB/s · $3,4496–107–12
MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB96 GB usable · 614 GB/s · $6,69914–2416–29

Hardware that runs only one of them

Run Qwen3.8-27B but not Nanbeige4.3-33B: Radeon RX 7900 XTX, GeForce RTX 3090, GeForce RTX 4090, Mac mini M6 32GB, GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, MacBook Pro M6 32GB.

Current priced devices, cheapest first, at Q4 with ~4k context.

Quick answers

Which needs less VRAM, Nanbeige4.3-33B or Qwen3.8-27B?
Qwen3.8-27B: about 20.4 GB at Q4_K_M, against 24.1 GB for Nanbeige4.3-33B. At Q8_0 it's 34.9 GB vs 41.5 GB.
Which is faster locally, Nanbeige4.3-33B or Qwen3.8-27B?
Decode speed is limited by how many bytes are read per token. Qwen3.8-27B reads 27.8B parameters per token and Nanbeige4.3-33B reads 33.1B, so Qwen3.8-27B should be faster on the same machine. Our estimate on the GeForce RTX 5090 at Q4 is 64–90 tok/s vs 54–76 tok/s. These are estimates, not benchmarks.
What is the cheapest GPU for Nanbeige4.3-33B and Qwen3.8-27B?
At Q4: Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Nanbeige4.3-33B; Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Qwen3.8-27B. Prices are dated list-price snapshots.
Can a Mac run Nanbeige4.3-33B and Qwen3.8-27B?
The cheapest Mac or mini PC we track for Nanbeige4.3-33B is the Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB ($3,199). For Qwen3.8-27B it's the Mac mini M6 32GB ($1,799).
Which is better, Nanbeige4.3-33B or Qwen3.8-27B?
We don't score answer quality. This comparison covers memory, context cache, hardware and speed. Pick the one that fits your hardware, then test both on your own prompts.

Related comparisons

All comparisons · MoE vs dense · Q4 vs Q8 vs FP16 · Context length and VRAM · VRAM calculator

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