Your rig

CPU only · DDR5 8-channel server · 256 GB

DDR5-4800 ×8 · 307 GB/s · 204.8 GB usable of 256 GB system RAM
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Context length

KV cache at f16, 4K tokens

Quality floor
Q8_0 — near-lossless Q6_K Q5_K_M Q4_K_M — recommended Q3_K_M Q2_K — damaged
KV cache type
Runtime
Ollamallama.cppLM Studio

3 of 5 runtimes drive this device.

Allow CPU offload Include partial-offload fits

Offloaded layers run at 60 GB/s host bandwidth — expect single-digit tokens per second.

Which one should I actually run?

Best models for your CPU only · DDR5 8-channel server

Updated 21 Aug 2026 5 new this week, 14 this month

What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q4_K_M and 4K. The ordering is editorial; the sizes and speeds are computed. How the shortlists work.

RecommendationModelWhyQuant · totalTok/s est.
Best overall DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New
DeepSeek · MIT
Frontier-adjacent at 13B active; the largest model a 128–192 GB machine runs at a useful speed. Q4_K_M · 160.5 GB 7.8 Runs great
Best for coding DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New
DeepSeek · MIT
Frontier coding at 13B active for 128 GB+ machines. Q4_K_M · 160.5 GB 7.8 Runs great
Best reasoning DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New
DeepSeek · MIT
Most of V4 Pro's reasoning at 13B active. Q4_K_M · 160.5 GB 7.8 Runs great
Best for writing Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Meta · Llama 3.3 Community
The creative-writing favourite: consistent voice, takes direction, handles fiction framing. Q4_K_M · 41.5 GB 3.2 Runs great
Best vision Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Image and video in, OSWorld 84 — the strongest local vision-language model at 24 GB. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 8.2 Runs great
Best for agents DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New
DeepSeek · MIT
Long agent trajectories at 13B active. Q4_K_M · 160.5 GB 7.8 Runs great
Best translation Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
119 languages, and Qwen translations read as idiomatic rather than literal. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 8.2 Runs great
Fastest good model Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
3.3B active per token: the fastest model that still competes with dense 27Bs. Q4_K_M · 20.9 GB 31 Runs great
Best long context DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New
DeepSeek · MIT
A 1M-token window with a compressed latent cache. Q4_K_M · 166.3 GB
at 128K context
7.8 Runs great

Everything that fits

Runs great

68 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal VRAM headroom Tok/sRuntime
DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New 284B MoE / 13B act Q4_K_M 159.7 GB 0.19 GB 160.5 GB
44.3 GB free
7.8 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 235B-A22B 235B MoE / 22B act Q4_K_M 132.1 GB 0.73 GB 133.5 GB
71.3 GB free
4.6 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 125B MoE / 10B act Q4_K_M 70.3 GB 0.09 GB 71.0 GB
133.8 GB free
10 llama.cpp Run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B 124B MoE / 12B act Q4_K_M 69.7 GB 0.03 GB 70.4 GB
134.4 GB free
8.5 llama.cpp Run
Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New 124B MoE / 5.1B act Q4_K_M 69.7 GB 0.03 GB 70.4 GB
134.4 GB free
20 llama.cpp Run
Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B 119B MoE / 6.5B act Q4_K_M 66.9 GB 0.09 GB 67.6 GB
137.2 GB free
16 llama.cpp Run
gpt-oss 120B 117B MoE / 5.1B act MXFP4 60.5 GB 0.15 GB 61.3 GB
143.5 GB free
22 llama.cpp Run
Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B 109B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 61.3 GB 0.75 GB 62.6 GB
142.2 GB free
6.0 llama.cpp Run
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 70.6B Q4_K_M 39.7 GB 1.25 GB 41.5 GB
163.3 GB free
3.2 llama.cpp Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B 70.6B Q4_K_M 39.7 GB 1.25 GB 41.5 GB
163.3 GB free
3.2 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 20.2 GB 0.08 GB 20.9 GB
183.9 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 20.2 GB 0.08 GB 20.9 GB
183.9 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week 33.2B Q4_K_M 18.7 GB 1.00 GB 20.3 GB
184.5 GB free
6.9 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
184.8 GB free
7.0 llama.cpp Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
184.8 GB free
7.0 llama.cpp Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
184.8 GB free
7.0 llama.cpp Run
Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct 32.2B Q4_K_M 18.1 GB 1.00 GB 19.7 GB
185.1 GB free
7.1 llama.cpp Run
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act Q4_K_M 17.8 GB 0.02 GB 18.4 GB
186.4 GB free
32 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 4 31B 31.3B Q4_K_M 17.6 GB 1.41 GB 19.6 GB
185.2 GB free
7.3 llama.cpp Run
GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B 31.2B MoE / 3B act Q4_K_M 17.5 GB 0.21 GB 18.3 GB
186.5 GB free
34 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 17.1 GB 0.38 GB 18.1 GB
186.7 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 17.1 GB 0.38 GB 18.1 GB
186.7 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
Muse Glimmer 30B New 29.8B Q4_K_M 16.8 GB 0.13 GB 17.5 GB
187.3 GB free
7.7 llama.cpp Run
Granite 4.1 30B 28.9B Q4_K_M 16.3 GB 1.00 GB 17.9 GB
186.9 GB free
7.9 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.8 27B New this week 27.8B Q4_K_M 15.6 GB 0.25 GB 16.5 GB
188.3 GB free
8.2 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.6 27B 27.8B Q4_K_M 15.6 GB 0.25 GB 16.5 GB
188.3 GB free
8.2 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 3 27B 27.4B Q4_K_M 15.4 GB 0.72 GB 16.7 GB
188.1 GB free
8.4 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 4 26B-A4B 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act Q4_K_M 14.9 GB 0.35 GB 15.9 GB
188.9 GB free
27 llama.cpp Run
Devstral Small 2 24B 24B Q4_K_M 13.5 GB 0.63 GB 14.7 GB
190.1 GB free
9.5 llama.cpp Run
Mistral Small 3.2 24B 23.6B Q4_K_M 13.3 GB 0.63 GB 14.5 GB
190.3 GB free
9.7 llama.cpp Run
gpt-oss 20B 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act MXFP4 10.8 GB 0.10 GB 11.5 GB
193.3 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.63 GB 9.5 GB
195.3 GB free
15 llama.cpp Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.75 GB 9.7 GB
195.1 GB free
15 llama.cpp Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.75 GB 9.7 GB
195.1 GB free
15 llama.cpp Run
Phi-4 14B 14.7B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.78 GB 9.6 GB
195.2 GB free
16 llama.cpp Run
Ministral 3 14B 13.9B Q4_K_M 7.8 GB 0.63 GB 9.0 GB
195.8 GB free
16 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 3 12B 12.2B Q4_K_M 6.9 GB 0.56 GB 8.0 GB
196.8 GB free
19 llama.cpp Run
Mistral NeMo 12B 12.2B Q4_K_M 6.9 GB 0.63 GB 8.1 GB
196.7 GB free
19 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 4 12B 12B Q4_K_M 6.7 GB 0.56 GB 7.9 GB
196.9 GB free
19 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.5 9B 9.65B Q4_K_M 5.4 GB 0.13 GB 6.2 GB
198.6 GB free
24 llama.cpp Run
Ornith 1.5 9B New this week 9.41B Q4_K_M 5.3 GB 0.13 GB 6.0 GB
198.8 GB free
24 llama.cpp Run
Ministral 3 8B 8.92B Q4_K_M 5.0 GB 0.53 GB 6.1 GB
198.7 GB free
26 llama.cpp Run
Granite 4.1 8B 8.79B Q4_K_M 4.9 GB 0.63 GB 6.2 GB
198.6 GB free
26 llama.cpp Run
LFM2.5 8B-A1B 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act Q4_K_M 4.8 GB 0.05 GB 5.4 GB
199.4 GB free
68 llama.cpp Run
Fara 7B 8.29B Q4_K_M 4.7 GB 0.22 GB 5.5 GB
199.3 GB free
28 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 8B 8.19B Q4_K_M 4.6 GB 0.56 GB 5.8 GB
199.0 GB free
28 llama.cpp Run
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct 8.03B Q4_K_M 4.5 GB 0.50 GB 5.6 GB
199.2 GB free
28 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 4 E4B 8.0B Q4_K_M 4.5 GB 0.09 GB 5.2 GB
199.6 GB free
29 llama.cpp Run
Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act Q4_K_M 4.4 GB 0.03 GB 5.1 GB
199.7 GB free
78 llama.cpp Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B 7.62B Q4_K_M 4.3 GB 0.22 GB 5.1 GB
199.7 GB free
30 llama.cpp Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 7B 7.62B Q4_K_M 4.3 GB 0.22 GB 5.1 GB
199.7 GB free
30 llama.cpp Run
Olmo 3 7B Instruct 7.3B Q4_K_M 4.1 GB 2.00 GB 6.7 GB
198.1 GB free
31 llama.cpp Run
Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 7.25B Q4_K_M 4.1 GB 0.50 GB 5.2 GB
199.6 GB free
32 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 4 E2B 5.1B Q4_K_M 2.9 GB 0.04 GB 3.5 GB
201.3 GB free
45 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.5 4B 4.66B Q4_K_M 2.6 GB 0.13 GB 3.3 GB
201.5 GB free
49 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 3 4B 4.3B Q4_K_M 2.4 GB 0.20 GB 3.2 GB
201.6 GB free
53 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 4B 4.02B Q4_K_M 2.3 GB 0.56 GB 3.4 GB
201.4 GB free
57 llama.cpp Run
Ministral 3 3B 3.85B Q4_K_M 2.2 GB 0.41 GB 3.2 GB
201.6 GB free
59 llama.cpp Run
Phi-4-mini 3.8B 3.84B Q4_K_M 2.2 GB 0.50 GB 3.3 GB
201.5 GB free
60 llama.cpp Run
Granite 4.1 3B 3.4B Q4_K_M 1.9 GB 0.31 GB 2.8 GB
202.0 GB free
67 llama.cpp Run
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct 3.21B Q4_K_M 1.8 GB 0.44 GB 2.8 GB
202.0 GB free
71 llama.cpp Run
LFM2.5 2.6B New 2.7B Q4_K_M 1.5 GB 0.06 GB 2.2 GB
202.6 GB free
85 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.5 2B 2.27B Q4_K_M 1.3 GB 0.05 GB 1.9 GB
202.9 GB free
101 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 1.7B 1.72B Q4_K_M 1.0 GB 0.44 GB 2.0 GB
202.8 GB free
133 llama.cpp Run
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct 1.24B Q4_K_M 0.7 GB 0.13 GB 1.4 GB
203.4 GB free
185 llama.cpp Run
Gemma 3 1B 1.0B Q4_K_M 0.6 GB 0.03 GB 1.2 GB
203.6 GB free
229 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3.5 0.8B 0.87B Q4_K_M 0.5 GB 0.05 GB 1.1 GB
203.7 GB free
263 llama.cpp Run
Qwen3 0.6B 0.6B Q4_K_M 0.3 GB 0.44 GB 1.4 GB
203.4 GB free
381 llama.cpp Run

Won't fit in VRAM

8 models · some are possible with CPU offload
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal Over budget Tok/sRuntime
Kimi K3 2.8T-A104B New 2780B MoE / 104B act Q4_K_M 1563.2 GB 0.11 GB 1563.9 GB +1359.1 GB ~1.0 llama.cpp Why
Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New 2446B MoE / 95B act Q4_K_M 1375.4 GB 0.36 GB 1376.3 GB +1171.5 GB ~1.1 llama.cpp Why
DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New 1650B MoE / 49B act Q4_K_M 927.8 GB 0.27 GB 928.6 GB +723.8 GB ~2.1 llama.cpp Why
Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B 1027B MoE / 32B act Q4_K_M 577.5 GB 0.27 GB 578.3 GB +373.5 GB ~3.2 llama.cpp Why
GLM-5.2 744B-A40B 753B MoE / 40B act Q4_K_M 423.4 GB 0.34 GB 424.3 GB +219.5 GB ~2.5 llama.cpp Why
DeepSeek-R1 671B 671B MoE / 37B act Q4_K_M 377.3 GB 0.27 GB 378.2 GB +173.4 GB ~2.7 llama.cpp Why
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 403B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 226.6 GB 0.12 GB 227.3 GB +22.5 GB ~6.0 llama.cpp Why
Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week 397B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 223.2 GB 0.12 GB 223.9 GB +19.1 GB ~6.0 llama.cpp Why

Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 4K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 204.8 GB usable system RAM. Tokens per second are estimated from 307 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.