Family Salamandra · 40B parameters

Salamandra 40B Instruct

40B scaled-up, 35 EU languages. ⚠ Gated HF repo—restricted access. ALIA-40B successor available.

BSC·License Apache 2.0·Context 8k tokens·Output December 2024·Fits within the 128 GB of the GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM← Catalog

01What it can do

Strengths
  • Sovereign European model for Romance languages
  • Native Catalan (unique)
  • Apache 2.0
Limitations to know
  • —24 GB VRAM Q4
  • —8192 context only
  • —Less well known—few fine-tunes
Architecture
Dense · 40B · BSC MareNostrum · sovereign Romance languages
Training
Barcelona Supercomputing Center — 7.68T tokens, strong in Catalan, Spanish, French, and Occitan.
Ideal for
Advanced EU multilingual

04Install

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 pull hf.co/BSC-LT/salamandra-40b-instruct-GGUF
⚠
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
24 GB
Q5_K_M
Good quality/size compromise
29 GB
Q8_0
Nearly indistinguishable from FP16
43 GB
FP16
Full precision — server use
80 GB
Fallback CPU · If you don't have a GPU, allow 40 GB of RAM minimum to run this model at reduced speed.

What hardware do you need for Salamandra 40B Instruct?

To run Salamandra 40B Instruct locally with Q4 quantization, you need about 24 GB of VRAM. An option to compare: GMKtec EVO-X2 64GB / 1TB (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) — leave some headroom for the system and context; check engine compatibility with the GPU.

Current offer: GMKtec EVO-X2 64GB / 1TB (Ryzen AI Max+ 395)
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Why this choice? Our complete guide on GMKtec EVO-X2 64GB / 1TB (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) →

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

On the go: Salamandra 40B Instruct also runs on a RTX laptop PC (24 GB of VRAM) →

This model in your private ChatGPT, without the cloud

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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
~2t/s
GTX 1650, RX 6600, MBA M2 8GB
Mid-range
~10t/s
RTX 4060, 4070, MBP M3 Pro
High-end
~25t/s
RTX 4090, M4 Max, Radeon 7900