North Mini Code 1.0 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
ChatCodeFunctionsNorth Mini Code 1.0 is Cohere's first open-weight coding model, a mixture-of-experts design with about 30.5 billion total parameters and roughly 3.3 billion active per token. It is tuned for agentic coding: tool calling, terminal workflows, and software-engineering tasks rather than general chat. Only the active parameters compute per token, so it decodes quickly for its size, though all weights must fit in memory; it runs on a single high-end consumer GPU once quantized. The model supports a 500,000 token context window, useful for large codebases or long agent transcripts. It is released under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing unrestricted commercial and research use. Published in June 2026 as the debut release in Cohere's North family, it is designed to run on a single H100-class GPU in FP8.
Runs great on a 24 GB GPU
Runs from 12 GB (IQ2_M · 16K)Best on 24 GB (Q4_K_M · ~173 tok/s · 64K)Macs from 16 GB (IQ2_M · ~55 tok/s)
Apache 2.0
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run North Mini Code 1.0
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
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/North-Mini-Code-1.0-GGUF:Q4_K_MQ4_K_M fits fully on the RTX 4090 · 4.6 GB free · 16K context
Download: North-Mini-Code-1.0-UD-Q4_K_M.gguf19.20 GBunsloth
Ways to runOther ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Your own private copy · Q4_K_M · 24 GB GPU
- The easiest way to try this model
- Running in a few minutes, easy setup
- Chat right here or connect any app
$5+ bonus for new users
Runs on RTX 3090 (24 GB) (4 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~166 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.33
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does North Mini Code 1.0 Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.4 GB | 14.9 GB | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Fits: 128K context · ~204 tok/s | |
| 13.7 GB | 15.3 GB | 3-bit small — 3-bit small quantization | Fits: 128K context · ~201 tok/s | |
| 15.3 GB | 16.8 GB | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Fits: 128K context · ~192 tok/s | |
| 15.6 GB | 17.2 GB | 4-bit · legacy — 4-bit legacy quantization | Fits: 128K context · ~189 tok/s | |
| 18.7 GB | 20.2 GB | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Fits: 64K context · ~173 tok/s | |
| 22.1 GB | 23.7 GB | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Fits: 32K context · ~157 tok/s | |
| 25.6 GB | 27.1 GB | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Does not fit: needs 26.3 GB | |
| 30.9 GB | 32.4 GB | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Does not fit: needs 31.6 GB |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization19.4GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 18.3 GB
- KV cache
- 0.8 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 4.6 GB free · ~173 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥180 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~226, RTX 3090 Ti ~173
Which Hardware Can Run North Mini Code 1.0?
Q4_K_M · 18.7 GBNorth Mini Code 1.0 (Q4_K_M) requires 18.7 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 25+ GB is recommended. Using the full 500K context window can add up to 25.0 GB, bringing total usage to 43.7 GB. 8 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 122 devices with unified memory can run North Mini Code 1.0, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB).
20 GB
fits · 0.6 GB free · up to 16K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~71Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 12.6 GB free · up to 256K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~226Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~62Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~35Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~56Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~36Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
Similar models
6| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hy Memory 30B A3BTencent | — | 19.1 GB | ~184 | same size |
| Granite Switch 4.1 30BIBM | — | 22.7 GB | ~35 | same size |
| Llm Jp 4.1 32B A3b Thinkingllm-jp | — | 20.1 GB | ~188 | same size |
| Muse Glimmer 30BMeta | — | 19.6 GB | ~36 | same size |
| NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA | — | 19.3 GB | ~197 | same size |
| Hy MT2 30B A3BTencent | — | 19.1 GB | ~170 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- Cohere
- Family
- North
- Parameters
- 30.5B
- Active parameters
- 3.3B per token
- Architecture
- Cohere2MoeForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 500,000 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 262,144
- Release Date
- 2026-06-05
- License
- Apache 2.0
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does North Mini Code 1.0 need?
North Mini Code 1.0 requires 18.7 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 61.4 GB at BF16. Full 500K context adds up to 25.0 GB (43.7 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 30.5B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 18.3 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.4 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.
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 25.4 GB (at full 500K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run North Mini Code 1.0?
Yes, at Q5_K_L (22.5 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (25.6 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
What's the best quantization for North Mini Code 1.0?
For North Mini Code 1.0, Q4_K_M (18.7 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q4_K_L (19.1 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 8.8 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run North Mini Code 1.0 on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB) and 133 other Macs can run North Mini Code 1.0, the smallest at IQ2_M. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 18.7 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead), from Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB).
Can I run North Mini Code 1.0 locally?
Yes — North Mini Code 1.0 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is North Mini Code 1.0?
At Q4_K_M, North Mini Code 1.0 can reach ~98 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~173 tok/s. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.
tok/s = 1000 ÷ (active GB ÷ (bandwidth GB/s × efficiency) × 1000 + layers × routing ms)
Mixture-of-Experts: just the active experts get read for each token, along with a fixed routing cost per layer.
Example: NVIDIA B200 → 2.0 GB active ÷ (8000 × 0.65) = 0.390 ms, plus 49 layers × 0.055 ms = 2.695 ms, so 1000 ÷ 3.085 ms = ~324 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (18.7 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of North Mini Code 1.0?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 18.29 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 60.97 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 8.38 GB.
Which GPUs can run North Mini Code 1.0?
8 consumer GPUs can run North Mini Code 1.0 at Q4_K_M. 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 North Mini Code 1.0?
122 devices with unified memory can run North Mini Code 1.0 at Q4_K_M (18.7 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.