Would CUDA be a better path than Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB for Ternary Bonsai 27B?

Often yes, if your goal is the easiest setup and the widest runtime support. Intel can offer attractive memory capacity, but CUDA still tends to win on tooling maturity, guides, kernels, and model coverage for local AI.

Can Ternary Bonsai 27B run on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Ternary Bonsai 27B feels slow on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB?

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.

BARELY — Tight on Memory

A74Great

Estimated from fit model

Ternary Bonsai 27B needs ~13.2 GB VRAM. Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q2_0_G128 quantization, expect ~12 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

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

Q2_0_G128 (Low quality) — 10.3 GB, 20.4 tok/s, Tight fit

10.3 GB required12.0 GB available

86% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

20.4 tok/s

TTFT

9510 ms

Safe context

44K

Memory

10.3 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights7.2 GB

KV Cache1.0 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsTernary Bonsai 27B on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB
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: 20.4 tok/s decode · 9.5s TTFT (warm) · 51 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.

Runtime ecosystem is narrower than CUDA

Intel GPUs can look attractive on memory per dollar, but local AI tooling, kernels, and model coverage are still broader and easier on CUDA today.

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.

Prefer CUDA if you want the path of least resistance

If your goal is maximum runtime coverage, easier troubleshooting, and better support for new local AI releases, CUDA is usually still the safer upgrade 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	S	Tight fit	18.8 tok/s	5620 ms	11K
Coding	A	Very compromised	11.5 tok/s	16829 ms	11K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	6.7 tok/s	42222 ms	11K
Reasoning	A	Very compromised	11.5 tok/s	19889 ms	11K
RAG	F	Too heavy	6.7 tok/s	52777 ms	11K

Inference speed

Ternary Bonsai 27B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Ternary Bonsai 27B at Q2_0_G128 across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 4080 Super 16GB at ~87 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q2_0_G128	87.2	Fits
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q2_0_G128	76.2	Fits

Quantization options

How Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B params) fits at each quantization level on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q1_0_G128	1.125	3.9 GB	Very Low	S89
Q2_0_G128Best for your GPU	1.71	7.2 GB	Low	S89

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Ternary Bonsai 27B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "prism-ml/Ternary-Bonsai-27B-gguf" \
  --hf-file "Ternary-Bonsai-27B-gguf-Q2_0_G128.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Frequently asked questions

Can Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B?

Yes, Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB can run Ternary Bonsai 27B with a A grade (Very compromised). Expected decode speed: 11.5 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Ternary Bonsai 27B need?

Ternary Bonsai 27B (27B parameters) requires approximately 13.2 GB of memory with Q2_0_G128 quantization.

What is the best quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B?

The recommended quantization for Ternary Bonsai 27B is Q2_0_G128, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Ternary Bonsai 27B run at on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB?

On Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B achieves approximately 11.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 16829ms using Q2_0_G128 quantization.

Can Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB run Ternary Bonsai 27B for coding?

For coding workloads, Ternary Bonsai 27B on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB receives a A grade with 11.5 tok/s and 11K context.

What context window can Ternary Bonsai 27B use on Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB?

On Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB, Ternary Bonsai 27B can safely use up to 11K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 262K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for Intel Arc Pro A60 12GB See all hardware for Ternary Bonsai 27B

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