Conversation models that run on 256 GB

628 models with published weights that fit in 256 GB — a Mac Studio with 256. Counted at four-bit quantisation, weights only, leaving the machine about a third of its memory and a gigabyte for context: room for roughly 274 billion parameters. A mixture of experts is counted in full, because it is held in full even though only a few experts compute. 628 in all, a hundred to a page; this is page 5 of 7.

A Mac Studio at the top of its configuration, or a serious machine. Almost everything openly published fits, including the large mixtures of experts. At this point the constraint is no longer whether the model loads but whether it generates fast enough to be worth waiting for.

Models that answer in prose across whatever subject you put to them. This is the largest category and the least differentiated: most of them are competent at most things, so the choice usually comes down to price, context length and how the maker behaves about availability. Look at what a model costs per million tokens in and out — the output rate is often four or five times the input rate, and it is the one that decides your bill.

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Conversation models Models that run on 256 GB