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AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility

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AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 is a 51.6B-parameter open language model from AI21 Labs in the Jamba family. At BF16 it needs about 113.45 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.

51.6B params · denseOther23.8K downloads270 likes

AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 runs on a 128 GB+ Mac or a datacenter GPU

Best local pick → Mac Pro M2 Ultra (128 GB) · BF16 · 117.8 GB · ~5 tok/s

Macs from128 GB BF16 · ~5 tok/s

Other

Not set up for it?

Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB

Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate

Run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5

One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.Each way opens a step-by-step guide for your OS and quant.

Recommended

vLLM
one command · needs vLLM installed
$vllm serve ai21labs/AI21-Jamba-Mini-1.5 --max-model-len 16384 --tensor-parallel-size 8

vLLM repo with its own quantisation

Download: Weights on Hugging Face

install, OS, other quants

Ways to runOther ways

each opens step-by-step

Run in cloud

Runs on B200 (192 GB) (74 GB headroom) · BF16

Generation speed
~46 tok/s
generation speed
Cost per 1M output tokens
$36.27
per 1M output tokens

How Much VRAM Does AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 Need?

Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.

QuantizationVRAM+32KRuns on
113.5 GB122.7 GB16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for trainingRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
est.calculated, no published file yet

Selected BF16

Brain floating point 16

117.8GBat 16K context

Weights
112.5 GB
KV cache
4.9 GB
Overhead
0.3 GB

Server-class: ~117.8 GB at 16K context · one Instinct MI250X 128 GB

Or .

Which Hardware Can Run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

BF16 · 113.5 GB

AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 (BF16) requires 113.5 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 148+ GB is recommended. No consumer GPU has enough memory. 17 devices with unified memory can run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Pro M2 Ultra (128 GB).

By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at BF16

Consumer GPUs (up to 32 GB) and Macs up to 96 GB: too small for this model (needs ≥ 117.8 GB)8 GB tier →12 GB tier →16 GB tier →24 GB tier →Macs →

How good is AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

llmrun Score blends public benchmark boards into one number; 100 = the average open model.

Not enough data yet for an llmrun Score.

A Score needs results on enough independent boards. How the Composite Score is built

Benchmarks

This is the single board showing results for this model; badges show who ran the test.

  • LMArena Text

    LMArena · Oct 2026Arena

    1239.8

    #132/188 open

    Arena

Alternatives to AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5

Similar models

2
ModelScoreVRAMWhy it is similar
Kimi Linear 48B A3B BaseMoonshot AI—23.4 GBsame size
Llama 3 3 Nemotron Super 49B V1 5NVIDIA—22.8 GBsame size

Specifications

Publisher
AI21 Labs
Family
Jamba
Parameters
51.6B
Release Date
2024-08-19
License
Other

Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 need?

AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 requires 113.5 GB of VRAM at BF16.

VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead

Weights = 51.6B × 16 bits ÷ 8 = 103.1 GB

KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 10.4 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)

Fit ratings and hardware model lists check this model with room for a 16K-token context, which needs a little more memory.

VRAM usage by quantization

113.5 GB

Learn more about VRAM estimation →

Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

No — AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 requires at least 113.5 GB at BF16, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.

Can I run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 on a Mac?

Yes — Mac Pro M2 Ultra (128 GB) and 14 other Macs can run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At BF16 you need at least 113.5 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).

Can I run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 locally?

Yes — AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.

How fast is AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

At BF16, AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 can reach ~42 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.

tok/s = (bandwidth GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency

Example: NVIDIA B200 → 8000 ÷ 113.5 × 0.65 = ~46 tok/s

Estimated speed at BF16 (113.5 GB)

~46 tok/s
~46 tok/s
~42 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the download size of AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

At BF16, the download is about 103.14 GB.

Which GPUs can run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 at BF16 (113.5 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.

Which devices can run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5?

17 devices with unified memory can run AI21 Jamba Mini 1.5 at BF16 (113.5 GB), including ASUS Ascent GX10, Mac Pro M2 Ultra (128 GB), Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.