Gemma 3 27B IT vs Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Gemma 3 27B IT leads llmrun Score 79.4 to 65.1; both fit 24 GB (Gemma 3 27B IT at Q4_K_M, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 at IQ3_M); Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 is 2.6× faster on RTX 4090 (~92 vs ~36 tok/s).
Model B · Mistral AI
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.146.7B · 12.9B active · 32K context · Apache 2.0 · Dec 2023
Choose Gemma 3 27B IT if you want…
Higher llmrun Score
79.4 vs 65.1
Ahead on the benchmarks
4 of 4 shared boards
Lighter on memory
18.1 vs 28.6 GB at Q4_K_M
Longer context window
128K vs 32K tokens
Also does vision
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 doesn't list it
Newer release
Mar 2025 vs Dec 2023
Choose Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 if you want…
2.6× faster on RTX 4090
~92 vs ~36 tok/s
Also does chat
Gemma 3 27B IT doesn't list it
More permissive license
Apache 2.0 vs Gemma Terms
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 11.9 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 15.3 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
IQ2_XXS · ~28 tok/s
11.9 GB · up to 16Kfits
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 15.3 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q2_K_S · ~24 tok/s
15.7 GB · up to 16K
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
IQ2_XXS · ~69 tok/s
15.3 GB · up to 16K
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~36 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 16Kmore headroom
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
IQ3_M · ~92 tok/s
23.5 GB · up to 16K
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 32K
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Q4_K_M · ~117 tok/s
30.5 GB · up to 16Kfaster
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~28 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 64K
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Q4_K_M · ~57 tok/s
30.5 GB · up to 32Kfaster
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 32Kmore headroom
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
IQ4_XS · ~11 tok/s
27.6 GB · up to 16K
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 128K
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Q4_K_M · ~37 tok/s
30.5 GB · up to 32Kfaster
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 128K
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Q4_K_M · ~37 tok/s
30.5 GB · up to 32Kfaster
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
Gemma 3 27B IT
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Coding
Gemma 3 27B IT
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
no data
Science
Gemma 3 27B IT
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
no data
Reasoning
Gemma 3 27B IT
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Gemma 3 27B IT · #85 of 100 open models · #25 of 35 that fit 24 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 · #96 of 100 open models · #31 of 35 that fit 24 GB
Benchmarks
4 shared boards: Gemma 3 27B IT leads 4, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 leads 0 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
Gemma 3 27B IT
47.7%#57/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
30.6%#81/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2023
Gemma 3 27B IT
67.5%#43/145 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
43.3%#93/145 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Gemma 3 27B IT
74.0%#6/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
10.0%#34/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2023
Gemma 3 27B IT
52.5%#57/68 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
49.6%#60/68 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Dec 2023
8 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
Gemma 3 27B IT
1365.5#66/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
1197.3#147/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Only Gemma 3 27B IT (6)
- AIME 2024/202522.5%
- Aider Polyglot4.9%
- SciCode23.3%
- CritPt0.0%
- Fiction.LiveBench33.3%
- LMCA12.3%
Only Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (1)
- ForecastBench56.3
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.8 GB10.5 GB file
32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
20.4 GB15.6 GB file
32K 24.5 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
13.2 GB12.2 GB file
32K 21.0 GB · 128K 45.8 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
21.0 GB20.4 GB file
32K 25.0 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
14.7 GB13.4 GB file
32K 22.5 GB · 128K 47.3 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
23.3 GB20.4 GB file
32K 27.4 GB · 128K —
Q4_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
15.1 GB15.6 GB file
32K 22.9 GB · 128K 47.7 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
23.9 GB26.4 GB file
32K 28.0 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.1 GB16.5 GB file
32K 25.9 GB · 128K 50.7 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
28.6 GB26.4 GB file
32K 32.6 GB · 128K —
Q5_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
21.5 GB19.3 GB file
32K 29.3 GB · 128K 54.1 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
33.8 GB32.2 GB file
32K 37.9 GB · 128K —
Q6_K
Gemma 3 27B IT
24.9 GB22.2 GB file
32K 32.7 GB · 128K 57.5 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
39.1 GB38.4 GB file
32K 43.1 GB · 128K —
Q8_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
30.2 GB28.7 GB file
32K 37.9 GB · 128K 62.8 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
47.3 GB49.6 GB file
32K 51.3 GB · 128K —
20 more quants
IQ2_XXS
Gemma 3 27B IT
8.3 GB7.9 GB file
32K 16.1 GB · 128K 40.9 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
13.4 GB12.6 GB file
32K 17.4 GB · 128K —
IQ2_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
9.1 GB8.4 GB file
32K 16.8 GB · 128K 41.7 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
14.6 GB13.9 GB file
32K 18.6 GB · 128K —
IQ2_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
9.4 GB8.8 GB file
32K 17.2 GB · 128K 42.0 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
15.2 GB14.1 GB file
32K 19.2 GB · 128K —
IQ2_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
10.2 GB9.6 GB file
32K 17.9 GB · 128K 42.8 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
16.3 GB15.5 GB file
32K 20.4 GB · 128K —
IQ3_XXS
Gemma 3 27B IT
11.7 GB10.8 GB file
32K 19.5 GB · 128K 44.3 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
18.7 GB18.2 GB file
32K 22.7 GB · 128K —
Q2_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.1 GB9.8 GB file
32K 19.8 GB · 128K 44.7 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
19.3 GB16.0 GB file
32K 23.3 GB · 128K —
IQ3_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.5 GB11.6 GB file
32K 20.2 GB · 128K 45.1 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
19.8 GB19.4 GB file
32K 23.9 GB · 128K —
IQ3_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.8 GB12.2 GB file
32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
20.4 GB20.4 GB file
32K 24.5 GB · 128K —
IQ3_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
13.6 GB12.5 GB file
32K 21.3 GB · 128K 46.2 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
21.6 GB21.4 GB file
32K 25.6 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
15.5 GB14.5 GB file
32K 23.2 GB · 128K 48.1 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
24.5 GB24.2 GB file
32K 28.5 GB · 128K —
IQ4_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
16.2 GB14.8 GB file
32K 24.0 GB · 128K 48.8 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
25.7 GB25.1 GB file
32K 29.7 GB · 128K —
IQ4_NL
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB15.6 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
not listed
Q4_1
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB17.2 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
26.8 GB29.3 GB file
32K 30.9 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB15.7 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
26.8 GB26.7 GB file
32K 30.9 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.5 GB16.9 GB file
32K 26.2 GB · 128K 51.1 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
not listed
Q5_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.9 GB18.8 GB file
32K 26.6 GB · 128K 51.5 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
29.8 GB32.2 GB file
32K 33.8 GB · 128K —
Q5_1
Gemma 3 27B IT
20.8 GB20.4 GB file
32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
32.7 GB35.1 GB file
32K 36.7 GB · 128K —
Q5_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
20.8 GB18.8 GB file
32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
32.7 GB32.2 GB file
32K 36.7 GB · 128K —
Q5_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
21.9 GB19.6 GB file
32K 29.6 GB · 128K 54.5 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
not listed
BF16
Gemma 3 27B IT
60.4 GB54.0 GB file
32K 68.1 GB · 128K 93.0 GB
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
94.0 GB~93.4 GB file
32K 98.0 GB · 128K —
Gemma 3 27B IT
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/MaziyarPanahi/gemma-3-27b-it-GGUF:Q4_K_MMixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/TheBloke/Mixtral-8x7B-Instruct-v0.1-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | Gemma 3 27B IT | Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Mistral AI | |
| Parameters | 27.4B | 46.7B |
| Active parameters | — | 13B per token |
| Architecture | — | MixtralForCausalLM |
| Context | 128K tokens | 32K tokens |
| Modalities | Vision | Chat |
| License | Gemma Terms | Apache 2.0 |
| Released | Mar 2025 | Dec 2023 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Gemma 3 27B IT or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1?
Gemma 3 27B IT leads llmrun Score 79.4 to 65.1; both fit 24 GB (Gemma 3 27B IT at Q4_K_M, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 at IQ3_M); Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 is 2.6× faster on RTX 4090 (~92 vs ~36 tok/s). Choose Gemma 3 27B IT for higher llmrun Score and ahead on the benchmarks; choose Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 for 2.6× faster on RTX 4090 and also does chat.
Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 27B IT or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1?
At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 27B IT requires 18.1 GB while Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 needs 28.6 GB, making Gemma 3 27B IT the easier model to run on your local setup.
Which is faster on RTX 4090?
Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 36 tok/s for Gemma 3 27B IT (Q4_K_M) and 92 tok/s for Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (IQ3_M), so Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 is faster. Estimates, ±20%.
Can I run Gemma 3 27B IT or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 on a 16 GB GPU?
Gemma 3 27B IT fits at Q2_K_S; Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 fits at IQ2_XXS.
Which has a longer context window, Gemma 3 27B IT or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1?
Gemma 3 27B IT supports 131,072 tokens and Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 supports 32,768 tokens.