Aya Expanse 8B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Aya Expanse 8B is a 8.0B-parameter open language model from Cohere in the Aya family. At BF16 it needs about 17.66 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Runs well on a 24 GB GPU
Runs on 24 GB (BF16 · ~37 tok/s · 32K)Macs from 24 GB (BF16 · ~12 tok/s)
CC BY-NC 4.0
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Aya Expanse 8B
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve CohereLabs/aya-expanse-8b --max-model-len 16384vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on RTX PRO 4500 (32 GB) (11 GB headroom) · BF16
- Generation speed
- ~33 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $2.86
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Aya Expanse 8B Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17.7 GB | 23.2 GB | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Fits: 32K context · ~37 tok/s |
Selected BF16
Brain floating point 1620.2GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 17.0 GB
- KV cache
- 2.9 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 3.8 GB free · ~37 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥1.36 TB/s · RTX 5090 ~66
Which Hardware Can Run Aya Expanse 8B?
BF16 · 17.7 GBAya Expanse 8B (BF16) requires 17.7 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 23+ GB is recommended. 8 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 122 devices with unified memory can run Aya Expanse 8B, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB).
20 GB
tight · up to 8K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~27Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 11.8 GB free · up to 32K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~66Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~18Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~6Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~8Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~5Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at BF16
How good is Aya Expanse 8B?
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
Here are all 2 boards that have results for this model, sorted by their weight in the llmrun Score; badges show who ran the test.
- LMArena Text
LMArena · Oct 2026Arena
Arena1223.1
#138/187 open
- MMLU-Pro
TIGER-LabIndependent
Independent33.7%
#113/145 open
Alternatives to Aya Expanse 8B
Aya family · 5 models →Similar models
6| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALoDLM 8BAmazon | — | 7.6 GB | ~119 | same size |
| Llm Jp 4.1 8B Thinkingllm-jp | — | 7.6 GB | ~115 | same size |
| Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI | — | 5.5 GB | ~364 | same size |
| LFM2.5 8B A1BLiquid AI | — | 5.6 GB | ~335 | same size |
| BitCPM CANN 8BOpenBMB | — | 5.6 GB | ~127 | same size |
| Gemma 4 E4BGoogle | — | 5.6 GB | ~123 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- Cohere
- Family
- Aya
- Parameters
- 8.0B
- Release Date
- 2024-10-23
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Aya Expanse 8B need?
Aya Expanse 8B requires 17.7 GB of VRAM at BF16.
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 8.0B × 16 bits ÷ 8 = 16.1 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 1.6 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
Can I run Aya Expanse 8B on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB) and 106 other Macs can run Aya Expanse 8B. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At BF16 you need at least 17.7 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run Aya Expanse 8B locally?
Yes — Aya Expanse 8B can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Aya Expanse 8B?
At BF16, Aya Expanse 8B can reach ~272 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~37 tok/s. 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 ÷ 17.6600 × 0.65 = ~294 tok/s
Estimated speed at BF16 (17.7 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Aya Expanse 8B?
At BF16, the download is about 16.06 GB.
Which GPUs can run Aya Expanse 8B?
8 consumer GPUs can run Aya Expanse 8B at BF16. Top options include NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. 1 GPU has plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
Which devices can run Aya Expanse 8B?
122 devices with unified memory can run Aya Expanse 8B at BF16 (17.7 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Beelink GTR9 Pro (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.