Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct on Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS (16 GB)

Can the Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS (16 GB) run Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct?

Yes, it runs well

Runs well. At Q3_K_M it needs about 9.6 GB of 12.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 12.2 tok/s.

Best quant: Q3_K_M
Generation speed: 12.2 tok/s
Prompt processing: 42.0 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 24.4 s
Largest safe context: 8K

Download Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/moonshotai/Moonlight-16B-A3B-Instruct (opens in a new tab)

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Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q3_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 Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS (16 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.	17.4 / 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.	8.3 / 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	65.7 / 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 Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS (16 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	8.2 GB	12.0 GB	15.4 tok/s	Runs well	32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 63/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	9.6 GB	12.0 GB	12.2 tok/s	Runs well	38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	11.6 GB	12.0 GB	9.5 tok/s	Slowtight fit	43Fair quality (C) · 43 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.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	13.1 GB	12.0 GB	6.7 tok/s	Slowover memory limit	44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	14.9 GB	12.0 GB	—	Won't run	45Fair quality (C) · 45 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	18.7 GB	12.0 GB	—	Won't run	46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	All files (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	33.7 GB	12.0 GB	—	Won't run	46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (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

46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Q8_0 · 104 tok/s · Runs great
46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Q8_0 · 112 tok/s · Runs great
46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Q8_0 · 117 tok/s · Runs great
44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q5_K_M · 113 tok/s · Runs great
44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M4 Pro (24 GB) Q5_K_M · 62.2 tok/s · Runs great
44Fair quality (C) · 44 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB Q5_K_M · 72.6 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct need on the Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS 16GB?

At Q3_K_M it needs about 9.6 GB. The Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS 16GB has 12.0 GB usable.

How fast is Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct on the Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS 16GB?

About 12.2 tok/s at Q3_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Moonlight 16B-A3B Instruct should I use on the Intel Core i3-N305 / Core 3 N355 NAS 16GB?

Q3_K_M. Of the versions that fit, it is the one that runs best; when two run equally well, the check prefers the higher-rated one.

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.