DialoGPT Small — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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DialoGPT Small is a 176M-parameter open language model from Microsoft. It supports a context window of up to 1,024 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 0.12 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Runs great on a 24 GB GPU
Runs from 8 GB (Q4_K_M)Best on 24 GB (Q4_K_M · ~5460 tok/s)Macs from 8 GB (Q4_K_M · ~597 tok/s)
MIT
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run DialoGPT Small
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve microsoft/DialoGPT-small --max-model-len 1024vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on RTX 3060 12GB (11 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~1950 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.012
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does DialoGPT Small Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 GB | — | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Fits: — context · ~8190 tok/s | |
| 0.1 GB | — | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Fits: — context · ~7280 tok/s | |
| 0.1 GB | — | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Fits: — context · ~5460 tok/s | |
| 0.1 GB | — | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Fits: — context · ~4680 tok/s | |
| 0.2 GB | — | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Fits: — context · ~4095 tok/s | |
| 0.2 GB | — | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Fits: — context · ~3448 tok/s | |
| 0.4 GB | — | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Fits: — context · ~1680 tok/s |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization0.1GBat 1K context
- Weights
- 0.1 GB
- KV cache
- 0.0 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 23.9 GB free · ~5460 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥9 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~9707, RTX 3090 Ti ~5460
Which Hardware Can Run DialoGPT Small?
Q4_K_M · 0.1 GBDialoGPT Small (Q4_K_M) requires 0.1 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 1+ GB is recommended. 52 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 163 devices with unified memory can run DialoGPT Small, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB).
≤ 11 GB
≤ 11 GB tier →fits · 7.9 GB free · up to — ctx
16 GPUs · 1 Mac class · 2 device families
RTX 3080~4118Simulate output on RTX 3080RTX 2080 Ti~3337Simulate output on RTX 2080 TiRTX 3070 Ti~3295Simulate output on RTX 3070 TiM3*8 GB~597Simulate output on iMac 24" M3 (8 GB)Orin Nano~553Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super)iPhone~398Simulate output on iPhone 1720 GB
fits · 19.9 GB free · up to — ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~4000Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 31.9 GB free · up to — ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~9707Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~2683Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~896Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~1109Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~731Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
Specifications
- Publisher
- Microsoft
- Parameters
- 176M
- Architecture
- GPT2LMHeadModel
- Context Length
- 1,024 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 50,257
- Release Date
- 2022-03-02
- License
- MIT
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does DialoGPT Small need?
DialoGPT Small requires 0.1 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 0.4 GB at BF16.
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 176M × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 0.1 GB
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
What's the best quantization for DialoGPT Small?
For DialoGPT Small, Q4_K_M (0.1 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (0.1 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 0.1 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run DialoGPT Small on a Mac?
Yes — MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB) and 145 other Macs can run DialoGPT Small. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 0.1 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run DialoGPT Small locally?
Yes — DialoGPT Small can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is DialoGPT Small?
At Q4_K_M, DialoGPT Small can reach ~40000 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~5460 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 ÷ 0.12 × 0.65 = ~43333 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (0.1 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of DialoGPT Small?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 0.11 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 0.35 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 0.07 GB.
Which GPUs can run DialoGPT Small?
52 consumer GPUs can run DialoGPT Small at Q4_K_M. Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. 52 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
Which devices can run DialoGPT Small?
163 devices with unified memory can run DialoGPT Small at Q4_K_M (0.1 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.