Recent advancements in model optimization techniques, such as stable and large Mixture of Experts (MoE) models, along with low-bit quantization methods like 2 and 3-bit UD_I and exl3 quants, have made it feasible to run large models on limited VRAM without significantly compromising performance. For instance, models like MiniMax M2.1 and REAP-50.Q5_K_M can operate within a 96 GB VRAM limit while maintaining competitive performance in coding benchmarks. These developments suggest that using low-bit quantization for large models could be more efficient than employing smaller models with higher bit quantization, potentially offering better performance in agentic coding tasks. This matters because it could lead to more efficient use of computational resources, enabling the deployment of powerful AI models on less expensive hardware.
