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Can the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (512 GB) run Phi-3.5 Mini Instruct?

38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, it runs well

Runs well. At Q4_K_M it needs about 43.8 GB of 471 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 17.1 tok/s.

Best quant
Q4_K_M
Generation speed
17.1 tok/s
Prompt processing
94.2 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
10.9 s
Largest safe context
128K

Best app to run it on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (512 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 phi3.5:3.8b-mini-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 Phi-3.5 Mini Instruct

Recommended for the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (512 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 phi3.5:3.8b-mini-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/bartowski/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/bartowski/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/microsoft/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from Microsoft. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/microsoft/PhiCookBook (opens in a new tab)

Microsoft’s official Phi cookbook: setup, inference and fine-tuning guides.

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/PhiCookBook

Links checked 1 day ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (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 (512 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.17.1 / 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.9.8 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.2.1 / 15
Match score54.1 / 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 (512 GB)

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q2_K 43.0 GB 471 GB 28.1 tok/s Runs well 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 43.4 GB 471 GB 22.1 tok/s Runs well 33Basic quality (D) · 33 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q4_K_M 43.8 GB 471 GB 17.1 tok/s Runs well 38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 44.2 GB 471 GB 14.2 tok/s Runs well 38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 44.6 GB 471 GB 11.9 tok/s Runs well 39Basic quality (D) · 39 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 45.6 GB 471 GB 8.7 tok/s Slow 40Fair quality (C) · 40 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
F16 49.1 GB 471 GB 4.0 tok/s Slow 40Fair quality (C) · 40 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. 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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