llmrun
AlibabaQwen 3Qwen3MoeForCausalLM

Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility

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Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 is the reasoning and chain-of-thought variant of Alibaba's largest Qwen3 mixture-of-experts model, updated in July 2025. With 235 billion total parameters and about 22 billion active per forward pass, it represents the pinnacle of Qwen3's reasoning capabilities. This model excels at complex multi-step problems, mathematical reasoning, code analysis, and tasks requiring deep logical thinking. It demands serious hardware to run locally, but for users with multi-GPU setups, it offers reasoning performance that rivals the best proprietary models while keeping all computation on your own machines.

235.1B params · MoE22B active262K contextApache 2.09.1K downloads419 likes63.3K quant downloads

Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 runs on a 192 GB+ Mac or a datacenter GPU

Best local pick → Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB) · Q4_K_M · 142.9 GB · ~23 tok/s

Macs from96 GB IQ2_M · ~31 tok/s

Score 108.4#37 of 106 open#17 of 82 that fit ≤192 GBApache 2.0

Not set up for it?

Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB

Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate

Run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507

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.

Ways to runOther ways

each opens step-by-step

Run in cloud

Runs on B200 (192 GB) (49 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M

Generation speed
~129 tok/s
generation speed
Cost per 1M output tokens
$12.86
per 1M output tokens

How Much VRAM Does Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 Need?

Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.

QuantizationVRAM+32KRuns on
100.4 GB103.4 GB2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvementsRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
103.3 GB106.3 GB3-bit small — 3-bit small quantizationRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
115.1 GB118.1 GB3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantizationRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
118.0 GB121 GB4-bit · legacy — 4-bit legacy quantizationRuns on Instinct MI250X 128 GB
141.6 GB144.5 GB4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spotRuns on GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip 144 GB
168 GB171 GB5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoffRuns on B200 192 GB
194.4 GB197.4 GB6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good qualityRuns on Instinct MI325X 256 GB
235.6 GB238.6 GB8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-losslessRuns on Instinct MI325X 256 GB

Selected Q4_K_M

4-bit medium quantization

142.9GBat 16K context

Weights
141.1 GB
KV cache
1.6 GB
Overhead
0.3 GB

Server-class: ~142.9 GB at 16K context · one GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip 144 GB

Or .

Which Hardware Can Run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

Q4_K_M · 141.6 GB

Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 (Q4_K_M) requires 141.6 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 185+ GB is recommended. Using the full 262K context window can add up to 25.0 GB, bringing total usage to 166.6 GB. No consumer GPU has enough memory. 4 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB).

By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M

Consumer GPUs (up to 32 GB) and Macs up to 64 GB: too small for this model (needs ≥ 72.4 GB)8 GB tier →12 GB tier →16 GB tier →24 GB tier →Macs →

How good is Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

The llmrun Score merges 13 public benchmark boards into a single figure, where 100 represents the average for open models.

Score vs VRAM in the ≤192 GB tier

  • Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
  • Other models
  • Best Score for its VRAM

#17 of 82 that fit ≤192 GB

Each dot is a model at the best quant that fits ≤192 GB. The line steps up to the best Score available at each amount of VRAM; a dot below it is beaten by a model that needs no more memory.

Full ≤192 GB ranking →

Benchmarks

The 6 boards that weigh most in the llmrun Score, of 14 with a result for this model; badges show who ran the test.

  • GPQA Diamond

    Epoch AI · Jul 2025Independent

    80.0%

    #27/100 open

    Independent
  • LMArena Text

    LMArena · Oct 2026Arena

    1400.1

    #50/188 open

    Arena
  • AIME 2024/2025

    Epoch AI · Jul 2025Independent

    86.7%

    #21/88 open

    Independent
  • MMLU-Pro

    TIGER-LabIndependent

    84.5%

    #11/146 open

    Independent
  • SciCode

    Epoch AI · Jul 2025Lab-reported

    41.4%

    #32/72 open

    Lab-reported
  • SimpleQA

    Epoch AI · Jul 2025Independent

    40.4%

    #8/19 open

    Independent

In the ≤192 GB class

82 models fit ≤192 GB

Same Score, only models that fit ≤192 GB at their best quant: the ranking a ≤192 GB owner actually chooses from.

  1. #1

    131.9

    ~229 tok/s · 186.5 GB

  2. #2

    128.0

    ~151 tok/s · 191.4 GB

  3. #3

    127.6

    ~181 tok/s · 183.0 GB

  4. #4

    124.1

    ~228 tok/s · 185.1 GB

  5. #5

    122.0

    ~299 tok/s · 17.9 GB

  6. #6

    Inkling SmallThinking Machines

    119.6

    ~399 tok/s · 162.7 GB

Alternatives to Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507

Qwen 3 family · 79 models →

Official models with an llmrun Score, each answering one question; sizes are each model's default quant (usually Q4_K_M) with a 16K-token context.

Similar models

10
ModelScoreVRAMWhy it is similar
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DeepSeek127.6183 GBsimilar score
GLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai124.1205.2 GBsimilar score
DeepSeek V4 FlashDeepSeek115.3175.1 GBsimilar score
Qwen3.5 397B A17BAlibaba112.8242.6 GBsimilar score
MiniMax M3MiniMax112.6258 GBsimilar score
MiniMax M2.5MiniMax111.8139.6 GBsimilar score
Qwen3.5 122B A10BAlibaba109.475.5 GBsimilar score
GLM 4.7Z.ai109.1217.9 GBsimilar score
MiMo V2.5Xiaomi108.3187.6 GBsimilar score
Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba106.822 GBsimilar score
Fine-tunes & variants(3)

Specifications

Publisher
Alibaba
Family
Qwen 3
Parameters
235.1B
Active parameters
22.2B per token
Architecture
Qwen3MoeForCausalLM
Context Length
262,144 tokens
Vocabulary Size
151,936
Release Date
2025-07-25
License
Apache 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 need?

Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 requires 141.6 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 470.7 GB at BF16. Full 262K context adds up to 25.0 GB (166.6 GB total).

VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead

Weights = 235.1B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 141.1 GB

KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.5 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 ≈ 25.5 GB (at full 262K context)

VRAM usage by quantization

141.6 GB
166.6 GB

Learn more about VRAM estimation →

Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

No — Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 requires at least 71.0 GB at IQ2_XS, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.

What's the best quantization for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

For Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, Q4_K_M (141.6 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_S (162.1 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XS at 71.0 GB.

VRAM requirement by quantization

IQ2_XS
71.0 GB
Q2_K
100.4 GB
Q3_K_L
121.0 GB
Q4_K_M ★
141.6 GB
Q5_K_S
162.1 GB
BF16
470.7 GB

★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.

Learn more about quantization →

Can I run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 on a Mac?

Yes — Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 96GB) and 20 other Macs can run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, 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 141.6 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead), from Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB).

Can I run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 locally?

Yes — Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.

How fast is Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 can reach ~46 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. 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 → 13.4 GB active ÷ (8000 × 0.65) = 2.57 ms, plus 94 layers × 0.055 ms = 5.17 ms, so 1000 ÷ 7.74 ms = ~129 tok/s

Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB)

~129 tok/s
~129 tok/s
~107 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the download size of Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

At Q4_K_M, the download is about 141.06 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 470.19 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XS) is 70.53 GB.

Which GPUs can run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.

Which devices can run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?

4 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 at Q4_K_M (141.6 GB), including Mac Pro M2 Ultra (192 GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.