Can Mistral Small 3.1 24B run on RTX A4500 20GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Mistral Small 3.1 24B feels slow on RTX A4500 20GB?

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

YES — With Offload

A82Great

Estimated from fit model

Mistral Small 3.1 24B needs ~20.0 GB VRAM. RTX A4500 20GB has 20.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~37 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 20.0 GB, 36.7 tok/s, Runs with offload

20.0 GB required20.0 GB available

100% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs with offload

Decode

36.7 tok/s

TTFT

5282 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

20.0 GB / 20.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights14.6 GB

KV Cache2.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom2.0 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsMistral Small 3.1 24B on RTX A4500 20GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort:

def quicksort(arr):
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1]
print(quicksort(numbers))  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10]

The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm.

    Args:
        arr: List of integers to sort.

    Returns:
        A new sorted list.
    """
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 36.7 tok/s decode · 5.3s TTFT (warm) · 92 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

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

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

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

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Tight fit	36.7 tok/s	2881 ms	16K
Coding	A	Runs with offload	36.7 tok/s	5282 ms	16K
Agentic Coding	A	Very compromised (needs ~1.6 GB host RAM)	21.6 tok/s	13031 ms	16K
Reasoning	A	Runs with offload	36.7 tok/s	6242 ms	16K
RAG	A	Very compromised (needs ~1.6 GB host RAM)	21.6 tok/s	16288 ms

Quantization options

How Mistral Small 3.1 24B (24B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX A4500 20GB (20.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	9.4 GB	Low	A82
Q3_K_S	3	11.8 GB	Low	A82
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Mistral Small 3.1 24B on your machine.

Run

ollama run mistral-small:24b

Your hardware

More models your RTX A4500 20GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	A	42.3 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	A	19.1 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX A4500 20GB run Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Yes, RTX A4500 20GB can run Mistral Small 3.1 24B with a A grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 36.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Mistral Small 3.1 24B need?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B (24B parameters) requires approximately 20.0 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

The recommended quantization for Mistral Small 3.1 24B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Mistral Small 3.1 24B run at on RTX A4500 20GB?

On RTX A4500 20GB, Mistral Small 3.1 24B achieves approximately 36.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5282ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX A4500 20GB run Mistral Small 3.1 24B for coding?

For coding workloads, Mistral Small 3.1 24B on RTX A4500 20GB receives a A grade with 36.7 tok/s and 16K context.

What context window can Mistral Small 3.1 24B use on RTX A4500 20GB?

On RTX A4500 20GB, Mistral Small 3.1 24B can safely use up to 16K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Mistral Small 3.1 24B feels slow on RTX A4500 20GB?

See all results for RTX A4500 20GB See all hardware for Mistral Small 3.1 24B

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