Family Phi · 3.8B parameters

Phi-3.5 Mini

Small but clever. 128k context in 4 GB.

🇺🇸 Microsoft·License MIT·Context 128k tokens·Output August 2024·Fits within the 128 GB of the GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM← Catalog

01What it can do

Strengths
  • 128k context with 3.8B
  • MIT License
  • Very fast
  • Surprising reasoning performance for its size
Limitations to know
  • —10 GB VRAM Q4 (overkill for 3.8B)
  • —Worse than Phi-4 in quality
Architecture
Dense · 3.8B · Phi-3.5 Mini · sliding window + FlashAttention
Training
High-quality synthetic data from Microsoft. Strong educational focus.
Ideal for
Lightweight RAGLaptop

05Install

Install Ollama for your OS. Check the model and its quantization before downloading. Start with 4096 tokens of context, then check placement with ollama ps. A command below is not proof that a test was run on your machine.

$ollama run phi3.5
⚠
First download: between 2 and 40 GB depending on the selected quantization. Plan for sufficient disk space; a stable connection is recommended. Subsequent launches are instant.

02Required memory

Approximate GPU VRAM required to run this model, including 4k tokens of context overhead. For a longer context, add ~1 GB per 8k-token increment.

Q4_K_M
The lightest, ~5% loss
3 GB
Q5_K_M
Good quality/size compromise
3.5 GB
Q8_0
Nearly indistinguishable from FP16
5 GB
FP16
Full precision — server use
8 GB
Fallback CPU · If you don't have a GPU, allow 6 GB of RAM minimum to run this model at reduced speed.

What hardware do you need for Phi-3.5 Mini?

To run Phi-3.5 Mini locally with Q4 quantization, you need about 3 GB of VRAM. An option to compare: RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (ASUS Prime) — leave some headroom for the system and context; check engine compatibility with the GPU.

Current offer: RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (ASUS Prime)
AmazonSee price →

Affiliate links — commission possible at no extra cost to you; independent recommendations. As an Amazon Associate, BestLLMfor earns from qualifying purchases.

On the go: Phi-3.5 Mini also runs on a RTX laptop PC (16 GB of VRAM) →

This model in your private ChatGPT, without the cloud

Your private ChatGPT, free, on your own machine in an hour — LM Studio, Ollama, Open WebUI, your documents, no cloud.

  • Lifetime online access
  • PDF + files
  • Lifetime updates

03Expected speed

Tokens generated per second in Q4_K_M, 4k context. Beyond 20 t/s, reading is comfortable. Below 10 t/s, that's just for testing.

Entry-level
~22t/s
GTX 1650, RX 6600, MBA M2 8GB
Mid-range
~65t/s
RTX 4060, 4070, MBP M3 Pro
High-end
~150t/s
RTX 4090, M4 Max, Radeon 7900

04Public benchmarks

Scores reproduced from model cards or MMLU-Pro / community sources. Unit: % correct answers.

MMLU
69
HumanEval
62.8