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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/pixtral-large-124b-on-a16-64gb


Can Pixtral Large 124B run on NVIDIA A16 64GB?

YES — With Q3_K_S

A74Great
Estimated from fit model

Pixtral Large 124B needs ~73.4 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A16 64GB has 64.0 GB. With Q3_K_S quantization, expect ~4 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload
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Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Pixtral Large 124B at Q4_K_M needs 88.3 GB — too much for NVIDIA A16 64GB (64.0 GB). Runs at Q3_K_S (73.4 GB) with low quality. 2 quantization levels fit.
Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 88.3 GB, exceeds 64.0 GB available
88.3 GB required64.0 GB available
138% VRAM needed

24.3 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

2.6 tok/s

TTFT

75557 ms

Safe context

4K

Memory

88.3 GB / 64.0 GB

Offload

30%

Memory breakdown

Weights75.6 GB
KV Cache5.4 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom6.4 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower
See how fast it feelsPixtral Large 124B on NVIDIA A16 64GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step. Given information: - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour) - Time = 2.5 hours Formula: Distance = Speed x Time Calculation: Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h = 150 miles The train travels 150 miles. Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time. Breakdown: - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance) - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles Total distance: 150 miles (same) Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 2.6 tok/s decode · 75.6s TTFT (warm) · 6 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 7.8 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatFToo heavy2.5 tok/s41998 ms4K
CodingFToo heavy2.4 tok/s82168 ms4K
Agentic CodingFToo heavy2.1 tok/s135334 ms4K
ReasoningFToo heavy2.4 tok/s97108 ms4K
RAGFToo heavy2.1 tok/s169167 ms4K

Quantization options

How Pixtral Large 124B (124B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A16 64GB (64.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_KBest for your GPU
2
48.4 GB
LowS87
Q3_K_S
3
60.8 GB
LowF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Pixtral Large 124B on your machine.

Run

lms load Pixtral-Large-Instruct-2411 && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Pixtral Large 124B well

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition 96GBBudget pick
96 GB VRAM (+32)1792 GB/s (+1192)
S
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.21.6 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$9,999 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GBBest value
96 GB VRAM (+32)1597 GB/s (+997)
S
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.19.3 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$9,999 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
NVIDIA H20 96GBNVIDIA upgrade
96 GB VRAM (+32)4000 GB/s (+3400)
S
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.46.6 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$12,000 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for NVIDIA A16 64GBSee all hardware for Pixtral Large 124B
NVFP4
4
69.4 GB
Medium
F0
Q4_K_M
4
75.6 GB
MediumF0
Q5_K_M
5
89.3 GB
HighF0
Q6_K
6
101.7 GB
HighF0
Q8_0
8
132.7 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
254.2 GB
MaximumF0