When I first got into local LLMs nearly 3 years ago, in mid 2023, the frontier closed models were ofcourse impressively capable.

I then tried my hand on running 7b size local models, primarily one called Zephyr-7b (what happened to these models?? Dolphin anyone??), on my gaming PC with 8GB AMD RX580 GPU. Fair to say it was just a curiosity exercise (in terms of model performance).

Fast forward to this month, I revisit local LLM. (Although I no longer have the gaming PC, cost-of-living-crisis anyone 😫 )

And, the 31b size models look very sufficient. #Qwen has taken the helm in this order. Which is still very expensive to setup locally, although within grasp.

I’m rooting for the edge-computing models now - the ~2b size models. Due to their low footprint, they are practical to run in a SBC 24/7 at home for many people.

But these edge models are the ‘curiosity category’ now.

  • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    4 months ago

    For what stuff do you want to use them? I don’t think they come remotely close to today’s commercial models. Maybe for a specific purpose?

    • ntn888@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      5·
      4 months ago

      hey, thanks for your response… yeah that’s what I meant, the 2b models aren’t usable in today’s state, but more practical for everyday use if they work out…

      I actually meant the 31b models are useful for my purpose. I don’t do full-on agentic coding, just interactive chat/prompting. Example, I make good use for making linux shell scripts (as I don’t know howto myself). Currently I use qwen3.5-flash via cloud. It’s as good as the frontier models back then if not better…

      • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        4 months ago

        I wanted to use smaller models, but then do more work on the “thinking” process. I didn’t come far, because it get so slow with normal hardware and too expensive on dedicated one. Time consuming (I’m also not a programmer) but a fun project, but in the end I just decided to satisfy the privacy angle with protons ai Lumo.

  • inconel@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    4 months ago

    For small model bonsai series seems getting the spotlight. Natively trained on1bit and ternary 1.58bit, 8B runs on ~1GB memory. I’m curios on local models but haven’t tried because of lack of gaming rig but it seems work enough for regular pc