Phonellm Alpha 1 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Phonellm Alpha 1 is a 31.6B-parameter open language model from pipecat-ai. It supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 19.32 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Runs great on a 24 GB GPU
Runs from 12 GB (IQ2_M · 128K)Best on 24 GB (Q4_K_M · ~161 tok/s · 256K)Macs from 16 GB (IQ2_M · ~52 tok/s)
bsd-2-clause
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Phonellm Alpha 1
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
ollama run hf.co/EryriLabs/phonellm-alpha-1-GGUF:Q4_K_MQ4_K_M fits fully on the RTX 4090 · 4.7 GB free · 16K context
Download: phonellm-alpha-1-Q4_K_M.gguf24.52 GBEryriLabs
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on RTX 3090 (24 GB) (4 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~155 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.39
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Phonellm Alpha 1 Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.8 GB | 13.9 GB | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Fits: 256K context · ~191 tok/s | |
| 14.2 GB | 14.3 GB | 3-bit small — 3-bit small quantization | Fits: 256K context · ~188 tok/s | |
| 15.8 GB | 15.9 GB | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Fits: 256K context · ~179 tok/s | |
| 16.2 GB | 16.2 GB | 4-bit · legacy — 4-bit legacy quantization | Fits: 256K context · ~177 tok/s | |
| 19.3 GB | 19.4 GB | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Fits: 256K context · ~161 tok/s | |
| 22.9 GB | 23 GB | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Fits: 128K context · ~147 tok/s | |
| 26.4 GB | 26.5 GB | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Does not fit: needs 26.4 GB | |
| 31.9 GB | 32 GB | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Does not fit: needs 32 GB |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization19.3GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 19.0 GB
- KV cache
- 0.1 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 4.7 GB free · ~161 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥196 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~211, RTX 3090 Ti ~161
Which Hardware Can Run Phonellm Alpha 1?
Q4_K_M · 19.3 GBPhonellm Alpha 1 (Q4_K_M) requires 19.3 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 26+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 1.2 GB, bringing total usage to 20.5 GB. 8 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 122 devices with unified memory can run Phonellm Alpha 1, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Studio M1 Max (32 GB).
20 GB
fits · 0.7 GB free · up to 128K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~67Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 12.7 GB free · up to 256K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~211Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~58Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~33Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~52Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~33Simulate 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 |
| 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 |
| Gemma 4 31BGoogle | — | 22.6 GB | ~31 | same size |
| GLM 4.7 FlashZ.ai | — | 19.9 GB | ~142 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- pipecat-ai
- Parameters
- 31.6B
- Active parameters
- 3.6B per token
- Architecture
- NemotronHForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 262,144 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 131,072
- Release Date
- 2026-08-24
- License
- bsd-2-clause
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Phonellm Alpha 1 need?
Phonellm Alpha 1 requires 19.3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 63.5 GB at BF16. Full 262K context adds up to 1.2 GB (20.5 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 31.6B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 18.9 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 ≈ 1.6 GB (at full 262K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Phonellm Alpha 1?
Yes, at Q5_K_M (22.9 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (26.4 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
What's the best quantization for Phonellm Alpha 1?
For Phonellm Alpha 1, Q4_K_M (19.3 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_S (22.1 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 9.1 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run Phonellm Alpha 1 on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB) and 133 other Macs can run Phonellm Alpha 1, 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 19.3 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead), from Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB).
Can I run Phonellm Alpha 1 locally?
Yes — Phonellm Alpha 1 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Phonellm Alpha 1?
At Q4_K_M, Phonellm Alpha 1 can reach ~92 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~161 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 → 2.2 GB active ÷ (8000 × 0.65) = 0.42 ms, plus 52 layers × 0.055 ms = 2.86 ms, so 1000 ÷ 3.28 ms = ~305 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (19.3 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Phonellm Alpha 1?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 18.95 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 63.16 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 8.68 GB.
Which GPUs can run Phonellm Alpha 1?
8 consumer GPUs can run Phonellm Alpha 1 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 Phonellm Alpha 1?
122 devices with unified memory can run Phonellm Alpha 1 at Q4_K_M (19.3 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.