AREX Base — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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AREX Base is a 122.6B-parameter open language model from BAAI. It supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens. At BF16 it needs about 245.50 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
546 downloads
21 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- BAAI
- Parameters
- 122.6B
- Architecture
- Qwen3_5MoeForConditionalGeneration
- Context Length
- 262,144 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 248,320
- Release Date
- 2026-07-23
- License
- Apache 2.0
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does AREX Base Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 245.5 GB | 255.1 GB | 245.13 GB | Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training |
est.= calculated VRAM estimate; no published GGUF file found for that quantization yet. Other rows are verified against real community uploads.
Which GPUs Can Run AREX Base?
BF16 · 245.5 GBAREX Base (BF16) requires 245.5 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 320+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 9.6 GB, bringing total usage to 255.1 GB. No single GPU has enough memory — multi-GPU or cluster setups are needed.
Which Devices Can Run AREX Base?
BF16 · 245.5 GB3 devices with unified memory can run AREX Base, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomRelated Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does AREX Base need?
AREX Base requires 245.5 GB of VRAM at BF16. Full 262K context adds up to 9.6 GB (255.1 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 122.6B × 16 bits ÷ 8 = 245.1 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.4 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 10 GB (at full 262K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
BF16245.5 GBBF16 + full context255.1 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run AREX Base?
No — AREX Base requires at least 245.5 GB at BF16, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.
- Can I run AREX Base on a Mac?
AREX Base requires at least 245.5 GB at BF16, which exceeds the unified memory of most consumer Macs. You would need a Mac Studio or Mac Pro with a high-memory configuration.
- Can I run AREX Base locally?
Yes — AREX Base can run locally on consumer hardware. At BF16 quantization it needs 245.5 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is AREX Base?
At BF16, AREX Base can reach ~20 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 B300 → 8000 ÷ 245.5 × 0.65 = ~21 tok/s
Estimated speed at BF16 (245.5 GB)
~21 tok/s~20 tok/s~20 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of AREX Base?
At BF16, the download is about 245.13 GB.
- Which GPUs can run AREX Base?
No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run AREX Base at BF16 (245.5 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.
- Which devices can run AREX Base?
4 devices with unified memory can run AREX Base at BF16 (245.5 GB), including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, NVIDIA DGX H100. Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.