Kimi-Dev 72B on L40S 48GB (48GB) — VRAM, KV Cache & Throughput
Kimi-Dev 72B (72.7B total, 72.7B active, Dense GQA) uses 41.54 GiB of 4-bit weights (Q4_K_M), requiring 44.61 GiB total at 8K context and 52.11 GiB at 32K on L40S 48GB (~12.6 tok/s decode).
Recommended Hardware for Current Configuration
Production Launch Commands
llama-server -hf moonshotai/Kimi-Dev-72B:Q4_K_M \ --ctx-size 8192 -ngl 999 --flash-attn
vllm serve moonshotai/Kimi-Dev-72B \ --max-model-len 8192 --gpu-memory-utilization 0.92
Cloud GPU Comparison & Rent-vs-Buy TCO
Verified public rates across RunPod, Vast.ai, Vultr, and DigitalOcean.
| Provider | Recommended Instance | Total VRAM | Hourly Rate | Monthly at Selected Hours | Billing Mode | Deploy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RunPod | 1x A100 80GB SXM (Community Cloud · PCIe) | 80 GB | $1.19 / hr | $144.70 / mo | Per-second | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vast.ai | 1x A100 80GB SXM (Verified Host · SXM4) | 80 GB | $0.44 / hr | $53.75 / mo | Spot / On-demand | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr ($300 Free Credit*) | 1x A100 80GB SXM (Dedicated Instance · $300 Credit*) | 80 GB | $2.40 / hr | $291.48 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr Cloud GPU | 1x A100 80GB SXM (Dedicated Instance) | 80 GB | $2.40 / hr | $291.48 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| DigitalOcean | 1x Instinct MI300X 192GB (Dedicated Instance) | 192 GB | $2.59 / hr | $314.94 / mo | Per-second | Deploy GPU ↗ |
Rates reflect public listings on the verification date and fluctuate with regional inventory.
Fine-Tuning VRAM Requirements (QLoRA / LoRA / Full) — Kimi-Dev 72B
Engineering Sizing Notes & Optimization Playbook
Quick Hardware Verdict
L40S 48GB (48GB physical, 45.6 GiB usable) runs 4-bit (Q4_K_M) Kimi-Dev 72B at 8K context using 44.61 GiB with 0.99 GiB of safe headroom (~12.6 tok/s single-stream decode).
KV Cache & Runtime Tuning
Kimi-Dev 72B uses Dense GQA (72.7B total, 72.7B active per token). Moving from 8K to 32K context expands FP16 KV cache from 2.5 GiB to 10 GiB; enabling 8-bit KV cache (llama.cpp -ctk q8_0 -ctv q8_0 or vLLM --kv-cache-dtype fp8) saves 5 GiB at 32K (reducing total VRAM to 47.11 GiB).
VRAM Scaling Across Context Windows (4K to 128K, 4-bit Weights)
Quantization Precision & Memory Matrix — Kimi-Dev 72B @ 8K
| Quantization Format | Weights (GiB) | KV Cache | Total VRAM (GiB) | Decode Speed | Compatibility (L40S 48GB) | Recommended GPU | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Weights (BF16 / FP8 / MXFP4 — Lossless) (BF16) | 135.41 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 138.48 GiB (148.69 GB) | ~0.8 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | Instinct MI300X 192GB (192GB) | Official checkpoint size |
| FP8 / GGUF Q8_0 (8-bit — Near-Lossless) (Q8_0) | 71.94 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 75.01 GiB (80.54 GB) | ~1.7 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q6_K (6-bit — High Precision) (Q6_K) | 55.52 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 58.59 GiB (62.91 GB) | ~3.5 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q5_K_M (5-bit — Balanced) (Q5_K_M) | 48.41 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 51.48 GiB (55.28 GB) | ~6.6 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB) | Config-derived formula |
| Q4_K_M / UD-Q4_K_XL / AWQ (4-bit — Recommended) (Q4_K_M) | 41.54 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 44.61 GiB (47.9 GB) | ~12.6 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF IQ4_XS (4.25-bit — Compact) (IQ4_XS) | 36.33 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 39.4 GiB (42.31 GB) | ~14.3 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | A40 48GB (48GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF Q3_K_M (3-bit — Low VRAM) (Q3_K_M) | 33.41 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 36.48 GiB (39.17 GB) | ~15.5 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | A40 48GB (48GB) | Config-derived formula |
| GGUF UD-Q2_K_XL (2-bit — Extreme MoE) (UD-Q2_K_XL) | 23.78 GiB | 2.5 GiB | 26.85 GiB (28.83 GB) | ~21.6 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | Radeon AI PRO R9700 32GB (32GB) | Config-derived formula |
Technical Specifications & FAQ
Does Kimi-Dev 72B fit on L40S 48GB (48GB)?
In 4-bit (Q4_K_M) at 8,192 context, Kimi-Dev 72B requires 44.61 GiB total GPU memory (41.54 GiB weights + 2.5 GiB KV cache + 0.57 GiB runtime buffers) against 45.6 GiB usable on L40S 48GB, delivering ~12.6 tok/s decode.
How much VRAM does Kimi-Dev 72B need at 32K context?
At 32,768 context tokens, Kimi-Dev 72B (Dense GQA) allocates 10 GiB for KV cache and state, bringing total 4-bit VRAM to 52.11 GiB (55.95 GB decimal).