Qwen2 72B Instruct on Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (128 GB)

Can the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (128 GB) run Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Barely: it runs very slowly

Very slow. At Q8_0 it needs about 89.4 GB of 113 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 0.5 tok/s.

Best quant: Q8_0
Generation speed: 0.5 tok/s
Prompt processing: 5.0 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 206.8 s
Largest safe context: 32K

Best app to run it on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (128 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 qwen2:72b-instruct-q8_0

llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.
KoboldCpp

Want an agent? Qwen2 72B Instruct supports tool use, so you can pair a llama.cpp or MLX LM server with one of these. Apps that run on this computer come first.

Coding agents

Personal assistants

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 Qwen2 72B Instruct

Recommended for the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (128 GB): Q8_0. 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 qwen2:72b-instruct-q8_0

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q8_0 file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen2-72B-Instruct-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/Qwen/Qwen2-72B-Instruct-GGUF:Q8_0

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen2-72B-Instruct (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

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

How it’s rated

Quality 64Good quality (B) · 64 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q8_0, 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 Very slow: How well it runs on the Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (128 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.	28.8 / 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.	1.6 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	15.0 / 15
Match score	70.4 / 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 (128 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	41.4 GB	113 GB	1.5 tok/s	Very slow	44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 56/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	47.9 GB	113 GB	1.2 tok/s	Very slow	53Fair quality (C) · 53 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	56.6 GB	113 GB	0.9 tok/s	Very slow	60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	63.9 GB	113 GB	0.7 tok/s	Very slow	62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · part 1 of 2 (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	71.9 GB	113 GB	0.6 tok/s	Very slow	63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · part 1 of 2 (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	89.4 GB	113 GB	0.5 tok/s	Very slow	64Good quality (B) · 64 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · part 1 of 2 (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	158 GB	113 GB	—	Won't run	64Good quality (B) · 64 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 8/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · part 1 of 4 (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

60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Q4_K_M · 30.3 tok/s · Runs great
53Fair quality (C) · 53 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M4 Max (64 GB) Q3_K_M · 10.3 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB) Q4_K_M · 11.6 tok/s · Runs well
60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) Q4_K_M · 11.9 tok/s · Runs well
53Fair quality (C) · 53 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M4 Max (128 GB) Q3_K_M · 10.3 tok/s · Runs well
60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) Q4_K_M · 11.9 tok/s · Runs well

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.