Best Local Embedding and Reranker Models by VRAM (2026)
Local embedding and reranking models for RAG, sized by VRAM. Real GGUF file sizes, licences, and the runtime gap that stops Ollama reranking.
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Local embedding and reranking models for RAG, sized by VRAM. Real GGUF file sizes, licences, and the runtime gap that stops Ollama reranking.
Open image models sized for real GPUs, with the text encoder counted in and the licence checked. FLUX, Z-Image, Qwen-Image and SD3.5 compared.
Local AI on a 6GB GPU: GTX 1660, RTX 2060, RTX 3050 and laptop cards. Real weight sizes for chat, coding, vision, speech, translation and RAG.
Find your VRAM tier, then the current open-weight pick for chat, coding, vision, speech, translation or agents. Fourteen guides, one index.
Quantization formats compared with real file sizes and bits per weight. Why Q4 does not halve a model, and why low quants generate faster.
Local AI on a 12GB GPU: chat, coding, vision, speech and agents for RTX 3060 12GB or RTX 4070. Current picks, per-quant weight sizes, honest limits.
Local AI on a 16GB GPU: chat, coding, translation, speech and agents for RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 5060 or Arc A770, and why the vision tier stays unresolved.
Local AI on a 24GB GPU: chat, coding, vision, speech and agents for RTX 3090 or RTX 4090. Current picks, per-quant weight sizes, and an open runtime bug.
Local AI on a 32GB GPU: chat, coding, vision, speech and agents on an RTX 5090. Current picks, per-quant weight sizes, and what the headroom buys.
Local AI on an 8GB GPU: chat, coding, vision, speech and agents for RTX 4060 or RTX 3070. Current picks, named quantisations, honest limits.