5 Things to Know About Running Local LLMs on 32GB RAM

32GB is enough for 7B models with 4-bit quantization A 7B parameter model needs roughly 4-5GB of RAM, leaving plenty of room for your OS, browser, and context window.

You can run a 13B model if you’re careful A 13B model requires about 8-9GB, but you’ll need to leave another 8-16GB for your system and context. 32GB gives you just enough headroom.

Expect slow speeds without a beefy GPU 32GB lets you load models, but inference runs on CPU unless you have a dedicated GPU with lots of VRAM. Response times will be slow.

16GB is not enough for practical use At 16GB, you’ll be fighting for memory between the model, OS, and context window. 32GB is the minimum for a usable experience.

32GB is a sweet spot for experimentation You can run smaller models easily and squeeze in 13B models. For 30B+ models, you’ll need 64GB or a GPU with lots of VRAM.