how much system RAM do you actually need for local AI? more than you think, if you offload

Everyone obsesses over VRAM, but system RAM matters too — especially the moment you try to run a model bigger than your GPU. Here's the real number… Aliteq Lena Fischer · AI & Local Compute Editor

16GB: bare minimum — fine if models fit entirely in your GPU's VRAM.

32GB: the sensible floor for local AI — comfortable headroom for the OS and modest offload.

64GB: important once you offload big MoE models to the CPU — the experts live in system RAM.

128GB: for pushing very large models (100B+ MoE) via aggressive offload.

Faster RAM helps — offloaded-expert speed depends on memory bandwidth, so DDR5 and more channels matter.

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