Which needs less VRAM, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?

Qwen3.8-27B: about 20.4 GB at Q4_K_M, against 23.8 GB for Qwen3-32B. At Q8_0 it's 34.9 GB vs 41.0 GB.

Which is faster locally, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?

Decode speed is limited by how many bytes are read per token. Qwen3.8-27B reads 27.8B parameters per token and Qwen3-32B reads 32.8B, 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 54–77 tok/s. These are estimates, not benchmarks.

What is the cheapest GPU for Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-32B?

At Q4: Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Qwen3.8-27B; Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Qwen3-32B. Prices are dated list-price snapshots.

Can a Mac run Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-32B?

The cheapest Mac or mini PC we track for Qwen3.8-27B is the Mac mini M6 32GB ($1,799). For Qwen3-32B it's the Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB ($3,199).

Which is better, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?

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.

Qwen3.8-27B vs Qwen3-32B: 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 23.8 GB for Qwen3-32B, 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 32.8B. Which one gives better answers depends on your task, so check benchmarks for that; this page covers what it takes to run them.

Qwen3.8-27B vs Qwen3-32B: specs and memory
	Qwen3.8-27B	Qwen3-32B
Maker	Qwen	Qwen
License	apache-2.0	apache-2.0
Type	Dense	Dense
Total parameters	27.8B	32.8B
Active per token	27.8B all	32.8B all
Memory at Q4_K_M	20.4 GB	23.8 GB
Memory at Q8_0	34.9 GB	41.0 GB
Memory at FP16	64.9 GB	76.4 GB
KV cache growth	66 MB per 1k tokens, FP16	262 MB per 1k tokens, FP16
Memory at Q4, 32k context	22.2 GB 2.1 GB cache	31.4 GB 8.6 GB cache
Cheapest GPU at Q4	Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB $949	Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB $949
Cheapest Mac / mini PC at Q4	Mac mini M6 32GB $1,799	Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB $3,199
Cheapest GPU at Q8	NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB $6,799	NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB $6,799
Tracked devices that run it at Q4	25 of 82	16 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, Qwen3.8-27B vs Qwen3-32B
Device	Qwen3.8-27B	Qwen3-32B
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB12 GB usable · 360 GB/s · $329	doesn’t fit	doesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB16 GB usable · 288 GB/s · $499	doesn’t fit	doesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 508016 GB usable · 960 GB/s · $999	doesn’t fit	doesn’t fit
GeForce RTX 309024 GB usable · 936 GB/s · $1,499	33–47	tight fit
Radeon RX 7900 XTX24 GB usable · 960 GB/s · $999	34–48	tight fit
GeForce RTX 509032 GB usable · 1792 GB/s · $1,999	64–90	54–77
Mac mini M6 24GB18 GB usable · 170 GB/s · $1,299	doesn’t fit	doesn’t fit
Mac mini M6 32GB24 GB usable · 170 GB/s · $1,799	5–8	tight fit
Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB48 GB usable · 307 GB/s · $3,199	8–15	7–12
Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) 128GB96 GB usable · 256 GB/s · $3,449	7–12	6–10
MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB96 GB usable · 614 GB/s · $6,699	16–29	14–25

Hardware that runs only one of them

Run Qwen3.8-27B but not Qwen3-32B: 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, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?: Qwen3.8-27B: about 20.4 GB at Q4_K_M, against 23.8 GB for Qwen3-32B. At Q8_0 it's 34.9 GB vs 41.0 GB.
Which is faster locally, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?: Decode speed is limited by how many bytes are read per token. Qwen3.8-27B reads 27.8B parameters per token and Qwen3-32B reads 32.8B, 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 54–77 tok/s. These are estimates, not benchmarks.
What is the cheapest GPU for Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-32B?: At Q4: Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Qwen3.8-27B; Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB ($949) for Qwen3-32B. Prices are dated list-price snapshots.
Can a Mac run Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-32B?: The cheapest Mac or mini PC we track for Qwen3.8-27B is the Mac mini M6 32GB ($1,799). For Qwen3-32B it's the Mac mini M5 Pro 64GB ($3,199).
Which is better, Qwen3.8-27B or Qwen3-32B?: 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

Qwen3.8-27B vs Gemma 4 31B20.4 vs 22.8 GB
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs Qwen3-32B23.8 vs 23.8 GB
Nanbeige4.3-33B vs Qwen3.8-27B24.1 vs 20.4 GB

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

Qwen3.8-27B vs Qwen3-32B: VRAM and speed for running locally

Estimated speed on the same hardware

Hardware that runs only one of them

Quick answers

Related comparisons

New models, and what they need to run