Quasar 3B A1B Preview — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Quasar 3B A1B Preview is a 2.9B-parameter open language model from silx-ai. It supports a context window of up to 16,384 tokens. At BF16 it needs about 6.47 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
6.7K downloads
12 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- silx-ai
- Parameters
- 2.9B
- Context Length
- 16,384 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 248,320
- Release Date
- 2026-04-19
- License
- MIT
Get Started
HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Quasar 3B A1B Preview Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BF16est. | 16.00 | 6.5 GB | — | 5.88 GB | Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training |
est.= calculated VRAM estimate; no published GGUF file found for that quantization yet. Other rows are verified against real community uploads.
Which GPUs Can Run Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
BF16 · 6.5 GBQuasar 3B A1B Preview (BF16) requires 6.5 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 9+ GB is recommended. 35 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroom
Which Devices Can Run Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
BF16 · 6.5 GB33 devices with unified memory can run Quasar 3B A1B Preview, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomDecent
— Enough memory, may be tightFrequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Quasar 3B A1B Preview need?
Quasar 3B A1B Preview requires 6.5 GB of VRAM at BF16.
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 2.9B × 16 bits ÷ 8 = 5.9 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.6 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
VRAM usage by quantization
BF166.5 GB- Can I run Quasar 3B A1B Preview on a Mac?
Quasar 3B A1B Preview requires at least 6.5 GB at BF16, which exceeds the unified memory of most consumer Macs. You would need a Mac Studio or Mac Pro with a high-memory configuration.
- Can I run Quasar 3B A1B Preview locally?
Yes — Quasar 3B A1B Preview can run locally on consumer hardware. At BF16 quantization it needs 6.5 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
At BF16, Quasar 3B A1B Preview can reach ~451 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI300X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~101 tok/s. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.
tok/s = (bandwidth GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency
Example: AMD Instinct MI300X → 5300 ÷ 6.5 × 0.55 = ~451 tok/s
Estimated speed at BF16 (6.5 GB)
~451 tok/s~101 tok/s~337 tok/s~279 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
At BF16, the download is about 5.88 GB.
- Which GPUs can run Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
35 consumer GPUs can run Quasar 3B A1B Preview at BF16 (6.5 GB). Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, AMD Radeon RX 7600. 28 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
- Which devices can run Quasar 3B A1B Preview?
33 devices with unified memory can run Quasar 3B A1B Preview at BF16 (6.5 GB), including Mac Mini M4 (16 GB), Mac Mini M4 (32 GB), Mac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB), Mac Mini M4 Pro (48 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.