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Mistral Small 3 24B needs 14 GB VRAM at Q4. The RTX 4070 12GB has 12 GB.
🌀 Mistral Small 3 24B (Mistral) is a 24B-parameter model for fast general chat, low-latency assistants. Near-large-model quality with fast, efficient inference. The question is whether the RTX 4070 12GB’s 12 GB of VRAM can hold it — here’s the exact math.
VRAM requirements
| Quantization | VRAM needed | RTX 4070 12GB |
|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M (recommended) | 14 GB | ❌ |
| Q8_0 (near-lossless) | 25 GB | ❌ |
Why it won’t fit (and what to do)
Mistral Small 3 24B needs 14 GB at Q4 but the RTX 4070 12GB has only 12 GB — you’re 2 GB short. You can offload layers to system RAM, but expect single-digit tokens/sec (painfully slow for chat).
About the RTX 4070 12GB
Architecture: Ada · VRAM: 12 GB · Price: ~$550.
Good: Efficient, quiet, good speed for 7-14B models
Watch out: 12GB ceiling — no headroom for 27B+ at usable quant
Check current RTX 4070 12GB price on Amazon →
Related checks
Other models on the RTX 4070 12GB
🎯 LLM Hardware Checker
Enter your exact GPU + RAM, see every model you can run.
💾 VRAM Requirements
Exact VRAM per model at Q4/Q5/Q8/FP16 with context scaling.
Frequently asked questions
Can the RTX 4070 12GB run Mistral Small 3 24B?
No — not enough VRAM without CPU offloading. Mistral Small 3 24B needs 14 GB VRAM at Q4_K_M; the RTX 4070 12GB has 12 GB.
How much VRAM does Mistral Small 3 24B need?
Mistral Small 3 24B needs about 14 GB at Q4_K_M (recommended) and 25 GB at Q8_0.
How many tokens per second will the RTX 4070 12GB get on Mistral Small 3 24B?
It won't fit in VRAM; with CPU offloading expect very slow single-digit tokens/sec.