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Can the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (256 GB) run Falcon 3 3B Instruct?

28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, it runs well

Runs well. At Q4_K_M it needs about 21.7 GB of 230 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 20.3 tok/s.

Best quant
Q4_K_M
Generation speed
20.3 tok/s
Prompt processing
111 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
9.2 s
Largest safe context
32K

Best app to run it on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (256 GB)

On Linux

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

  • One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
  • Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.
ollama run falcon3:3b-instruct-q4_K_M

How we choose: the files published for this model, which apps run in a container on a NAS without a graphics card (models run on its processor), and whether the model fits fully in the memory models can use. Details.

Download Falcon 3 3B Instruct

Recommended for the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (256 GB): Q4_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run falcon3:3b-instruct-q4_K_M

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q4_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/tiiuae/Falcon3-3B-Instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/tiiuae/Falcon3-3B-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from TII, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/tiiuae/Falcon3-3B-Instruct (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 7 hours ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
How capable the model itself is at Q4_K_M, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Runs well
How well it runs on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (256 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.12.8 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of the NAS’s memory that models can use (the rest stays with the NAS system and its storage services); fewer when it goes past that limit.25.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.10.7 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.2.2 / 15
Match score50.7 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (256 GB)

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q2_K 21.1 GB 230 GB 33.3 tok/s Runs great 21Basic quality (D) · 21 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 21.4 GB 230 GB 26.2 tok/s Runs well 25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q4_K_M 21.7 GB 230 GB 20.3 tok/s Runs well 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 22.1 GB 230 GB 16.7 tok/s Runs well 29Basic quality (D) · 29 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 22.4 GB 230 GB 14.1 tok/s Runs well 29Basic quality (D) · 29 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 49/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 23.2 GB 230 GB 10.3 tok/s Runs well 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 48/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
F16 26.2 GB 230 GB 4.8 tok/s Slow 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 46/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab) Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.

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