Arete 27B
Arete 27B loads in 17.2 GB at Q4_K_M, comfortably from 32 GB of memory, Macs included, starting at the MacBook Pro M5 Pro 48GB. Below is the memory math we ran for it, the smallest card that fits, and the fastest machine we track.
- Parameters
- 27.4B
- Format
- Q4_K_M
- Min memory
- 32 GB
- Best for
- Chat, Agents, Vision
How much memory does Arete 27B need?
Arete 27B is a 27.4B dense model built for chat, agents, vision. The weights alone take 17.2 GB at Q4_K_M; add context and the OS, and it belongs in the 32 GB memory class. Every number below comes from the ModelFit engine: speeds are estimates, labeled est., because we do not benchmark hardware ourselves.
Run with llama.cpp: llama-server -hf bartowski/NousResearch_Arete-27B-GGUF:Q4_K_M.
KV = fp16 estimate (q8_0 cache roughly halves it). "Comfortable" = weights + KV within the engine's tiered budget (~70-85% of memory).
Which machines run Arete 27B?
- Smallest GPU
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTest. 36 tok/s · 20 GB VRAMtypical error 50%
- Fastest
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090est. 87 tok/stypical error 5%
- Runs on a Mac?
- MacBook Pro M5 Pro 48GBest. 16 tok/stypical error 10%
Verdicts come from the same engine that powers our fit checker: memory capacity first, bandwidth for speed. How we compute these numbers · What typical error means · Hugging Face model card
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Config reports
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Frequently asked questions
How much memory does Arete 27B need?
17.2 GB for the Q4_K_M weights, plus ~1.0 GB of KV-cache at 16k context, about 18.2 GB total. Comfortable from 32 GB of VRAM or unified memory.
Does Arete 27B run on a Mac?
Yes, from the MacBook Pro M5 Pro 48GB (est. 16 tok/s, typical error 10%). Unified memory means the RAM budget is the only limit.
What is the smallest GPU for Arete 27B?
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB VRAM) is the smallest tracked card that runs Arete 27B comfortably, est. 36 tok/s, typical error 50%.
Cite this page
ModelFit: Arete 27B, specs, memory math and hardware verdicts. https://modelfit.io/models/arete-27b/ (dataset updated 2026-11-07, CC BY 4.0).