Mistral Small 3.2 24B on RTX 4090 (24GB) — VRAM, KV Cache & Throughput
Mistral Small 3.2 24B (24.01B total, 24.01B active, Dense GQA) uses 13.35 GiB of 4-bit weights (Q4_K_M), requiring 15.16 GiB total at 8K context and 18.91 GiB at 32K on RTX 4090 (~44.1 tok/s decode).
Fits with Safe Headroom
Measured GGUF shard size
HF config.json ↗
Required GPU Memory
15.16 GiB
16.28 GB (decimal)
Usable Hardware Memory
22.8 GiB
24 GB (physical)
Safe Headroom
+7.64 GiB
63% utilization
Est. Decode Throughput
~44.1 tok/s
24.01B active params
Est. Prefill Throughput
~1787 tok/s
4K Prompt TTFT: ~2292 ms
Est. Cost / 1M Tokens
$1.19
Dense GQA · Apache-2.0
Recommended Hardware for Current Configuration
Best Single GPU
Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB)
~$599
Best Value / Used GPU
RTX 3090 (24GB)
~$750
Apple Unified Memory
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 128GB
~$1,999
Cloud From
Vast.ai · $0.19 / hr
1x RTX 3090
Production Launch Commands
llama.cpp (GGUF)
llama-server -hf unsloth/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-GGUF:Q4_K_M \ --ctx-size 8192 -ngl 999 --flash-attn
vLLM
vllm serve mistralai/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506 \ --max-model-len 8192 --gpu-memory-utilization 0.92
Live Token Speed Simulator (TTFT ~2292ms · ~44.1 tok/s)
[Mistral Small 3.2 24B · 15.16 GiB] allocated on target GPU. Prefill completed in TTFT window; streaming autoregressive tokens at memory-bandwidth-bound rate...
Cloud GPU Comparison & Rent-vs-Buy TCO
Verified public rates across RunPod, Vast.ai, Vultr, and DigitalOcean.
Purchase break-even
~26.6 months
Est. local power: $4.26 / mo
| Provider | Recommended Instance | Total VRAM | Hourly Rate | Monthly at Selected Hours | Billing Mode | Deploy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RunPod | 1x RTX 3090 (Community Cloud) | 24 GB | $0.22 / hr | $26.75 / mo | Per-second | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vast.ai | 1x RTX 3090 (Verified Host) | 24 GB | $0.19 / hr | $22.98 / mo | Spot / On-demand | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr ($300 Free Credit*) | 1x L40S 48GB (Dedicated Instance · $300 Credit*) | 48 GB | $1.67 / hr | $203.19 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| Vultr Cloud GPU | 1x L40S 48GB (Dedicated Instance) | 48 GB | $1.67 / hr | $203.19 / mo | Hourly | Deploy GPU ↗ |
| DigitalOcean | 1x RTX 6000 Ada (Dedicated Instance) | 48 GB | $1.57 / hr | $190.91 / 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) — Mistral Small 3.2 24B
QLoRA (4b)
Fits with Safe Headroom
17.82 GiB
Model Weights: 13.35 GiB · Gradients + Optimizer: 3.36 GiB · Act: 1.11 GiB
Recommended GPU: Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB)
LoRA (16b)
Exceeds Available GPU Memory
51.48 GiB
Model Weights: 44.72 GiB · Gradients + Optimizer: 5.28 GiB · Act: 1.48 GiB
Recommended GPU: RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB)
Full BF16
Exceeds Available GPU Memory
185.95 GiB
Model Weights: 44.72 GiB · Gradients + Optimizer: 138.63 GiB · Act: 2.6 GiB
Recommended GPU: Instinct MI325X 256GB (256GB)
Engineering Sizing Notes & Optimization Playbook
Quick Hardware Verdict
RTX 4090 (24GB physical, 22.8 GiB usable) runs 4-bit (Q4_K_M) Mistral Small 3.2 24B at 8K context using 15.16 GiB with 7.64 GiB of safe headroom (~44.1 tok/s single-stream decode).
KV Cache & Runtime Tuning
Mistral Small 3.2 24B uses Dense GQA (24.01B total, 24.01B active per token). Moving from 8K to 32K context expands FP16 KV cache from 1.25 GiB to 5 GiB; enabling 8-bit KV cache (llama.cpp -ctk q8_0 -ctv q8_0 or vLLM --kv-cache-dtype fp8) saves 2.5 GiB at 32K (reducing total VRAM to 16.41 GiB).
VRAM Scaling Across Context Windows (4K to 128K, 4-bit Weights)
Quantization Precision & Memory Matrix — Mistral Small 3.2 24B @ 8K
| Quantization Format | Weights (GiB) | KV Cache | Total VRAM (GiB) | Decode Speed | Compatibility (RTX 4090) | Recommended GPU | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Weights (BF16 / FP8 / MXFP4 — Lossless) (BF16) | 44.72 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 46.53 GiB (49.96 GB) | ~2.2 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB) | Official checkpoint size |
| FP8 / GGUF Q8_0 (8-bit — Near-Lossless) (Q8_0) | 23.33 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 25.14 GiB (26.99 GB) | ~17.2 tok/s | Exceeds Available GPU Memory | Radeon AI PRO R9700 32GB (32GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| GGUF Q6_K (6-bit — High Precision) (Q6_K) | 18.02 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 19.83 GiB (21.29 GB) | ~33.2 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| GGUF Q5_K_M (5-bit — Balanced) (Q5_K_M) | 15.61 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 17.42 GiB (18.7 GB) | ~38.1 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| Q4_K_M / UD-Q4_K_XL / AWQ (4-bit — Recommended) (Q4_K_M) | 13.35 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 15.16 GiB (16.28 GB) | ~44.1 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| GGUF IQ4_XS (4.25-bit — Compact) (IQ4_XS) | 11.9 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 13.71 GiB (14.72 GB) | ~49.2 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| GGUF Q3_K_M (3-bit — Low VRAM) (Q3_K_M) | 10.69 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 12.5 GiB (13.42 GB) | ~54.3 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
| GGUF UD-Q2_K_XL (2-bit — Extreme MoE) (UD-Q2_K_XL) | 8.65 GiB | 1.25 GiB | 10.46 GiB (11.23 GB) | ~66 tok/s | Fits with Safe Headroom | RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB) | Measured GGUF shard size |
Technical Specifications & FAQ
Does Mistral Small 3.2 24B fit on RTX 4090 (24GB)?
In 4-bit (Q4_K_M) at 8,192 context, Mistral Small 3.2 24B requires 15.16 GiB total GPU memory (13.35 GiB weights + 1.25 GiB KV cache + 0.56 GiB runtime buffers) against 22.8 GiB usable on RTX 4090, delivering ~44.1 tok/s decode.
How much VRAM does Mistral Small 3.2 24B need at 32K context?
At 32,768 context tokens, Mistral Small 3.2 24B (Dense GQA) allocates 5 GiB for KV cache and state, bringing total 4-bit VRAM to 18.91 GiB (20.3 GB decimal).
Evaluate This Model on Other GPUs
RTX 3060 12GB (12GB)RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16GB)RTX 4070 Ti Super (16GB)RTX 4080 Super (16GB)RTX 5070 12GB (12GB)RTX 5070 Ti (16GB)RTX 5080 (16GB)RTX 3090 (24GB)RTX 4090 D (24GB)RTX 5090 (32GB)RTX 5090 D (32GB)RTX A6000 (48GB)RTX 6000 Ada (48GB)RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96GB)DGX Spark (GB10 128GB) (128GB)L4 24GB (24GB)A40 48GB (48GB)L20 48GB (48GB)L40S 48GB (48GB)A800 80GB SXM (80GB)A100 80GB SXM (80GB)H800 80GB SXM (80GB)H100 80GB SXM (80GB)H20 96GB HBM3 (96GB)H20 141GB HBM3e (141GB)H200 141GB SXM (141GB)B200 180GB (180GB)B300 288GB Blackwell Ultra (288GB)Ascend 910B 64GB (昇腾) (64GB)Ascend 910C 128GB (昇腾) (128GB)Atlas 300I Duo 96GB (310P) (96GB)MLU590 80GB (寒武纪思元) (80GB)DCU K100-AI 64GB (海光深算) (64GB)MetaX C500 64GB (沐曦曦云) (64GB)Kunlunxin P800 64GB (昆仑芯) (64GB)MTT S4000 48GB (摩尔线程) (48GB)Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB (24GB)Radeon AI PRO R9700 32GB (32GB)Ryzen AI Max+ 395 128GB (128GB)Instinct MI300X 192GB (192GB)Instinct MI325X 256GB (256GB)Instinct MI355X 288GB (288GB)Arc Pro B60 24GB (24GB)Gaudi 3 128GB HBM2e (128GB)Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB (64GB)MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB (128GB)Mac Studio M4 Ultra 256GB (256GB)Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB (512GB)
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