---
quantized_by: ubergarm
pipeline_tag: text-generation
base_model: zai-org/GLM-5.1
base_model_relation: quantized
license: mit
tags:
- imatrix
- conversational
- glm_moe_dsa
- ik_llama.cpp
language:
- en
- zh
---
## `ik_llama.cpp` imatrix Quantizations of zai-org/GLM-5.1
*NOTE* `ik_llama.cpp` can also run your existing GGUFs from bartowski, unsloth, mradermacher, etc if you want to try it out before downloading my quants.
Some of ik's new quants are supported with [Nexesenex/croco.cpp](https://github.com/Nexesenex/croco.cpp) fork of KoboldCPP with Windows builds. Also check for [ik_llama.cpp windows builds by Thireus here.](https://github.com/Thireus/ik_llama.cpp/releases).
These quants provide best in class perplexity for the given memory footprint.
## Big Thanks
Shout out to Wendell and the **Level1Techs** crew, the community [Forums](https://forum.level1techs.com/t/deepseek-deep-dive-r1-at-home/225826), [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@Level1Techs)! **BIG thanks** for providing **BIG hardware** expertise and access to run these experiments and make these great quants available to the community!!!
Also thanks to all the folks in the quanting and inferencing community on [BeaverAI Club Discord](https://huggingface.co/BeaverAI) and on [r/LocalLLaMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/) for tips and tricks helping each other run, test, and benchmark all the fun new models! Thanks to huggingface for hosting all these big quants!
Finally, I *really* appreciate the support from [aifoundry.org](https://aifoundry.org) so check out their open source RISC-V based solutions!
## Quant Collection
Perplexity computed against *wiki.test.raw*. (lower is "better")

These two are just test quants for baseline perplexity comparison and not available for download here:
* `BF16` 1404.406 GiB (16.003 BPW)
- PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 2.7257 +/- 0.01497
* `Q8_0` 746.302 GiB (8.504 BPW)
- PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 2.7257 +/- 0.01498
*NOTE*: The first split file is much smaller on purpose to only contain metadata, its fine!
## smol-IQ4_K 405.502 GiB (4.621 BPW)
PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 2.7547 +/- 0.01516
NOTE: Actual used RAM/VRAM will be about ~397.8 GiB despite larger model size reported due to unused blk.78/indexer/nextn tensors.
👈 Secret Recipe
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
custom="
# 79 Repeating Layers [0-78]
## Attention [0-78]
blk\..*\.attn_k_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_v_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_kv_a_mqa\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_a\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_output\.weight=q8_0
# First 3 Dense Layers [0-2]
blk\..*\.ffn_down\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)\.weight=iq6_k
# Shared Expert Layers [3-78]
blk\..*\.ffn_down_shexp\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_shexp\.weight=iq6_k
# Routed Experts Layers [3-78]
# NOTE: blk.78.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\.(78)\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq6_k
blk\.(78)\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq4_k
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq4_k
# Lightning indexer tensors [0-78]
# NOTE: indexer.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.indexer\.proj\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_k\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_q_b\.weight=q8_0
# NextN MTP Layer [78]
# NOTE: nextn.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.nextn\.eh_proj\.weight=q8_0
# Non-Repeating Layers
token_embd\.weight=iq6_k
output\.weight=iq6_k
"
custom=$(
echo "$custom" | grep -v '^#' | \
sed -Ez 's:\n+:,:g;s:,$::;s:^,::'
)
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-quantize \
--custom-q "$custom" \
--imatrix /mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/imatrix-GLM-5.1-BF16.dat \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-256x22B-5.1-BF16-00001-of-00033.gguf \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-5.1-smol-IQ4_K.gguf \
IQ4_K \
128
```
## IQ3_KS 320.216 GiB (3.649 BPW)
PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 2.8780 +/- 0.01609
NOTE: Actual used RAM/VRAM will be about 314.07 GiB despite larger model size reported due to unused blk.78/indexer/nextn tensors.
👈 Secret Recipe
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
custom="
# 79 Repeating Layers [0-78]
## Attention [0-78]
blk\..*\.attn_k_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_v_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_kv_a_mqa\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_a\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_output\.weight=iq6_k
# First 3 Dense Layers [0-2]
blk\..*\.ffn_down\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)\.weight=iq5_ks
# Shared Expert Layers [3-78]
blk\..*\.ffn_down_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
# Routed Experts Layers [3-78]
# NOTE: blk.78.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\.(78)\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\.(78)\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq4_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq3_ks
# Lightning indexer tensors [0-78]
# NOTE: indexer.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.indexer\.proj\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_k\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
# NextN MTP Layer [78]
# NOTE: nextn.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.nextn\.eh_proj\.weight=q8_0
# Non-Repeating Layers
token_embd\.weight=iq4_k
output\.weight=iq6_k
"
custom=$(
echo "$custom" | grep -v '^#' | \
sed -Ez 's:\n+:,:g;s:,$::;s:^,::'
)
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-quantize \
--custom-q "$custom" \
--imatrix /mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/imatrix-GLM-5.1-BF16.dat \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-256x22B-5.1-BF16-00001-of-00033.gguf \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-5.1-IQ3_KS.gguf \
IQ3_KS \
128
```
## IQ2_KL 261.988 GiB (2.985 BPW)
PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 3.1275 +/- 0.01759
NOTE: Actual used RAM/VRAM will be about 255.84 GiB despite larger model size reported due to unused blk.78/indexer/nextn tensors.
👈 Secret Recipe
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
custom="
# 79 Repeating Layers [0-78]
## Attention [0-78]
blk\..*\.attn_k_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_v_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_kv_a_mqa\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_a\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_output\.weight=iq6_k
# First 3 Dense Layers [0-2]
blk\..*\.ffn_down\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)\.weight=iq5_ks
# Shared Expert Layers [3-78]
blk\..*\.ffn_down_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
# Routed Experts Layers [3-78]
# NOTE: blk.78.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\.(78)\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\.(78)\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq3_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq2_kl
# Lightning indexer tensors [0-78]
# NOTE: indexer.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.indexer\.proj\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_k\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
# NextN MTP Layer [78]
# NOTE: nextn.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.nextn\.eh_proj\.weight=q8_0
# Non-Repeating Layers
token_embd\.weight=iq4_k
output\.weight=iq6_k
"
custom=$(
echo "$custom" | grep -v '^#' | \
sed -Ez 's:\n+:,:g;s:,$::;s:^,::'
)
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-quantize \
--custom-q "$custom" \
--imatrix /mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/imatrix-GLM-5.1-BF16.dat \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-256x22B-5.1-BF16-00001-of-00033.gguf \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-5.1-IQ2_KL.gguf \
IQ2_KL \
128
```
## smol-IQ2_KS 205.738 GiB (2.344 BPW)
PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 3.8818 +/- 0.02300
NOTE: Actual used RAM/VRAM will be about 200 GiB despite larger model size reported due to unused blk.78/indexer/nextn tensors.
👈 Secret Recipe
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
custom="
# 79 Repeating Layers [0-78]
## Attention [0-78]
blk\..*\.attn_k_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_v_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_kv_a_mqa\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_a\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_output\.weight=iq6_k
# First 3 Dense Layers [0-2]
blk\..*\.ffn_down\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)\.weight=iq5_ks
# Shared Expert Layers [3-78]
blk\..*\.ffn_down_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
# Routed Experts Layers [3-78]
# NOTE: blk.78.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\.(78)\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\.(78)\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq2_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq2_ks
# Lightning indexer tensors [0-78]
# NOTE: indexer.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.indexer\.proj\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_k\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
# NextN MTP Layer [78]
# NOTE: nextn.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.nextn\.eh_proj\.weight=q8_0
# Non-Repeating Layers
token_embd\.weight=iq4_k
output\.weight=iq6_k
"
custom=$(
echo "$custom" | grep -v '^#' | \
sed -Ez 's:\n+:,:g;s:,$::;s:^,::'
)
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-quantize \
--custom-q "$custom" \
--imatrix /mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/imatrix-GLM-5.1-BF16.dat \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-256x22B-5.1-BF16-00001-of-00033.gguf \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-5.1-smol-IQ2_KS.gguf \
IQ2_KS \
128
```
## smol-IQ1_KT 169.190 GiB (1.928 BPW)
PPL over 565 chunks for n_ctx=512 = 4.6654 +/- 0.02830
NOTE: Actual used RAM/VRAM will be about 163.046 GiB despite larger model size reported due to unused blk.78/indexer/nextn tensors.
👈 Secret Recipe
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
custom="
# 79 Repeating Layers [0-78]
## Attention [0-78]
blk\..*\.attn_k_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_v_b\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_kv_a_mqa\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.attn_q_a\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
blk\..*\.attn_output\.weight=iq6_k
# First 3 Dense Layers [0-2]
blk\..*\.ffn_down\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)\.weight=iq5_ks
# Shared Expert Layers [3-78]
blk\..*\.ffn_down_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_shexp\.weight=iq5_ks
# Routed Experts Layers [3-78]
# NOTE: blk.78.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\.(78)\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\.(78)\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq5_ks
blk\..*\.ffn_down_exps\.weight=iq1_kt
blk\..*\.ffn_(gate|up)_exps\.weight=iq1_kt
# Lightning indexer tensors [0-78]
# NOTE: indexer.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.indexer\.proj\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_k\.weight=q8_0
blk\..*\.indexer\.attn_q_b\.weight=iq6_k
# NextN MTP Layer [78]
# NOTE: nextn.* NOT implemented at time of quantizing so no imatrix data available
blk\..*\.nextn\.eh_proj\.weight=q8_0
# Non-Repeating Layers
token_embd\.weight=iq4_k
output\.weight=iq6_k
"
custom=$(
echo "$custom" | grep -v '^#' | \
sed -Ez 's:\n+:,:g;s:,$::;s:^,::'
)
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-quantize \
--custom-q "$custom" \
--imatrix /mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/imatrix-GLM-5.1-BF16.dat \
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-256x22B-5.1-BF16-00001-of-00033.gguf
/mnt/data/models/ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF/GLM-5.1-smol-IQ1_KT.gguf \
IQ1_KT \
128
```
## Quick Start
```bash
# Clone and checkout
$ git clone https://github.com/ikawrakow/ik_llama.cpp
$ cd ik_llama.cpp
# Build for hybrid CPU+CUDA
$ cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGGML_CUDA=ON
$ cmake --build build --config Release -j $(nproc)
# Download Quants
$ pip install huggingface_hub
$ hf download --local-dir ./GLM-5.1-GGUF/ --include=smol-IQ2_KS/*.gguf ubergarm/GLM-5.1-GGUF
# Hybrid CPU and Single GPU
# *NOTE* -fit might work on ik_llama.cpp now so give it a try
./build/bin/llama-server \
--model "$model"\
--alias ubergarm/GLM-5.1 \
-muge \
--merge-qkv \
--ctx-size 131072 \
-ctk f16 \
-mla 3 \
-amb 512 \
-ngl 999 \
--n-cpu-moe 50 \
--parallel 1 \
--threads 96 \
--threads-batch 128 \
--host 127.0.0.1 \
--port 8080 \
--no-mmap \
-cram 8192 \
--jinja
# CPU-Only
numactl -N ${SOCKET} -m ${SOCKET} \
./build/bin/llama-server \
--model "$model"\
--alias ubergarm/GLM-5.1 \
-muge \
--merge-qkv \
--ctx-size 131072 \
-ctk q8_0 \
-mla 3 \
--parallel 1 \
--threads 96 \
--threads-batch 128 \
--numa numactl \
--host 127.0.0.1 \
--port 8080 \
--no-mmap \
-cram 8192 \
--jinja
```
You can also bring your own template with `--chat-template-file myTemplate.jinja`. Adjust caching with `-cram `
No `-sm graph` support as of today for MLA models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and both GLM-5s.
## QAT Speculation
Assuming GLM-5.1 uses similar training as GLM-5 including INT4 QAT, there may be some tweaks to the quantization algorithm to match that target better.
> #### 2.4.3 INT4 Quantization-aware training
> To provide better accuracy at low-precision, we apply INT4 QAT in the SFT stage. Moreover, to further mitigate the training time overhead, we have developed a quantization kernel applicable to both training and offline weight quantization, which ensures bitwise-identical behavior between training and inference.
> https://arxiv.org/html/2602.15763v2
jukofyork mentioned useful links for details and experimental modified `q4_K` quantization implementation patch:
* https://github.com/zai-org/GLM-5/issues/21
* https://github.com/ywhhh/vllm-ascend-afd/blob/main/vllm_ascend/quantization/w4a8_dynamic.py
* https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/17064#issuecomment-3528891329
* https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/19460#issuecomment-4200617220
I may try that patch to `quantize_row_q4_0_ref()` to change `const float d = max / -8;` to `-7` similar to how we did Kimi-K2's `Q4_X` quantization type without imatrix on routed experts? Or try jukofyork's modified q4_K? I'll play around with some low 4ish BPW quants.
## References
* [ik_llama.cpp](https://github.com/ikawrakow/ik_llama.cpp)
* [Getting Started Guide (already out of date lol)](https://github.com/ikawrakow/ik_llama.cpp/discussions/258)
* [ubergarm-imatrix-calibration-corpus-v02.txt](https://gist.github.com/ubergarm/edfeb3ff9c6ec8b49e88cdf627b0711a?permalink_comment_id=5682584#gistcomment-5682584)