Unsloth - Apriel 1.5 15B Thinker MXFP4 Hybrid GGUF

Dense model utilizing MXFP4_MOE with hybrid weights on a dense model. Achieving interesting results that show smaller file size, more TPS, and near lossless precision.

Use The Following Models!

Stats compared against the standard Q8_0 (precision loss still compared to F16)

MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K

14.3% smaller than Q8 • 76.24 TPS • 0.0113% precision loss

This repository contains a set of hybrid MXFP4 quantized GGUF models designed to explore a surprising discovery:

A carefully targeted combination of MXFP4 + high-precision embeddings/output weights can deliver near-Q8 accuracy with Q4–Q6 level throughput and smaller file sizes than Q8.

Unlike pure MXFP4, which heavily degrades dense models. This hybrid method selectively protects tensors that matter most for semantic stability, while allowing MXFP4 to accelerate everything else.

This is experimental. And should be treated as such. I am more than encouraging people to use this model and leave feedback! Though precision loss seemed near lossless, did the hybrid models act strange in certain situations? Worse or better on some topics compared to the original model? Did it do better/worse overall on everything? I'd love to hear back from others!

The Magic Model

This model achieved:

File size reduction compared to the Q8_0

Better precision loss scores than the pure Q8_0

MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K

(14.3% smaller than Q8 • 76.24 TPS • 0.0113% precision loss)

The following was the conversion script:

llama-quantize \
  --tensor-type token_embd.weight=Q5_K \
  --tensor-type output.weight=Q5_K \
  --tensor-type 'router.*'=Q5_K \
  --tensor-type 'gate.*'=Q5_K \
  "Path_To_F16_GGUF.gguf" \
  "Path_To_GGUF.gguf" \
  mxfp4_moe

MXFP4_MOE Hybrid Naming Scheme & Synopsis

Multiple different combinations of converted models were created. The results were interesting to say the least. The following table will explain my naming scheme to what was done to the model to create it.

Suffix Example	Meaning
`MXFP4_MOE`	Pure MXFP4 pipeline
`MXFP4_MOE-Q8`	Embedding/output in Q8_0
`MXFP4_MOE-F16`	Embedding/output in F16
`output_mxfp4-embd_q8`	Output → MXFP4, Embedding → Q8
`output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q5_K`	Output → MXFP4, Emb/Router/Gate → Q5_K
`MXFP4_MOE-Q6_K`	Both embedding + output in Q6_K
`Q8_0`, `Q6_K`, `Q4_K_M`	Pure model-wide quantizations

The results achieved were interesting to say the least. It was a brute force game of mass creating models with hybrid methods to find combinations that didn't cause too much noise and paired well with MXFP4.

This repo showcases the converted models, whether good or bad that was created. But, I have been testing other models in different combinations as well. The winning hybrid combinations shown in this repo DOES NOT always equate to the same results on different models.

Some models do better or worse with different kinds of combinations. It depends if it's dense, MOE, and much more. Many times the results surprise me. Many models no matter the combination will not play nice with MXFP4. At least with the methods shown here.

Benchmark Methodology

All models were tested with a unified automated harness using llama.cpp tools.

Included tests:

Throughput:
llama-bench with descending GPU offload (-ngl 35 → 0) and automatic OOM retry.
Highest successful TPS is recorded.
Perplexity:
Three domains: general, code, math.
Each uses an auto-generated corpus of ~32k tokens.
Perplexity is computed with llama-perplexity at 2048-token context.
Same GPU retry logic as above.
Precision loss:
Each model is compared to its family F16 baseline.
Precision-loss % is computed for all PPL domains, plus an averaged score.
Models are ranked by this metric.

Table - Overview of Results

Comparing to F16.

model_name	size_reduction	tps_change
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	52.57%	74.75%
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K	54.46%	77.59%
MXFP4_MOE-Q5_K	49.89%	52.08%
Q6_K	58.97%	91.36%
MXFP4_MOE-Q4_K	50.93%	68.74%
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	51.79%	76.57%
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-router_gate_emb_f16	34.64%	40.27%
MXFP4_MOE-Q6_K	48.81%	13.07%
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-embd_f16	46.09%	55.3%
MXFP4_MOE-F16	39.21%	41.18%
MXFP4_MOE-Q8	46.84%	49.13%
Q8_0	46.84%	60.89%
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_f16	27.79%	23.64%
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_q6_k	44.9%	48.89%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q4_K	51.12%	70.25%
Q5_K_M	64.43%	83%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q6_K	53.46%	87.79%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q5_K	55.39%	56.98%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q5_K	50.82%	49.64%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q8	49.93%	68.46%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q8	49.93%	81.41%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_f16	47.77%	77.38%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_f16	36.31%	53.27%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q6_K	50.48%	76.68%
Q4_K_M	69.57%	110.16%
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q4_K	57.22%	89.77%
MXFP4_MOE-output_q8-embd_mxfp4	48.1%	62.22%
MXFP4_MOE	73.4%	78.17%

All percentages compared against the selected family F16 baseline.

Table - File Size + TPS + Avg Precision Loss

model_name	file_size_gb	bench_tps	avg_prec_loss
F16	26.88	42.93	0
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	12.75	75.02	0.0101
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K	12.24	76.24	0.0113
MXFP4_MOE-Q5_K	13.47	65.29	0.0174
Q6_K	11.03	82.15	0.1327
MXFP4_MOE-Q4_K	13.19	72.44	0.175
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	12.96	75.8	0.2507
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-router_gate_emb_f16	17.57	60.22	0.255
MXFP4_MOE-Q6_K	13.76	48.54	0.262
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-embd_f16	14.49	66.67	0.2979
MXFP4_MOE-F16	16.34	60.61	0.315
MXFP4_MOE-Q8	14.29	64.02	0.3162
Q8_0	14.29	69.07	0.3162
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_f16	19.41	53.08	0.322
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_q6_k	14.81	63.92	0.3304
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q4_K	13.14	73.09	0.4468
Q5_K_M	9.56	78.56	0.4736
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q6_K	12.51	80.62	0.5502
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q5_K	11.99	67.39	0.5686
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q5_K	13.22	64.24	0.5861
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q8	13.46	72.32	0.604
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q8	13.46	77.88	0.604
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_f16	14.04	76.15	0.626
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_f16	17.12	65.8	0.6336
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q6_K	13.31	75.85	0.6434
Q4_K_M	8.18	90.22	0.7801
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q4_K	11.5	81.47	0.822
MXFP4_MOE-output_q8-embd_mxfp4	13.95	69.64	1.3901
MXFP4_MOE	7.15	76.49	11.6499

Bench NGL was 35
Utilized CUDA

Table - PPL Columns

model_name	gen	gen_er	code	code_er	math	math_er
F16	10.9819	0.2924	1.7481	0.0148	9.58	0.2442
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	10.9919	0.2927	1.7522	0.0149	9.5459	0.2428
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K	10.9787	0.2924	1.7511	0.0148	9.5631	0.2435
MXFP4_MOE-Q5_K	11.005	0.2932	1.7497	0.0148	9.5461	0.2429
Q6_K	11.0416	0.2944	1.7506	0.0148	9.4761	0.24
MXFP4_MOE-Q4_K	11.03	0.2936	1.7513	0.0148	9.5708	0.2434
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	11.0293	0.294	1.7498	0.0148	9.6014	0.2449
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-router_gate_emb_f16	11.0343	0.2943	1.7487	0.0148	9.6043	0.2451
MXFP4_MOE-Q6_K	11.043	0.2945	1.7485	0.0148	9.5998	0.245
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-embd_f16	11.0427	0.2945	1.7489	0.0148	9.6082	0.2452
MXFP4_MOE-F16	11.0391	0.2944	1.7488	0.0148	9.6168	0.2455
MXFP4_MOE-Q8	11.0589	0.2952	1.7483	0.0148	9.6026	0.245
Q8_0	11.0589	0.2952	1.7483	0.0148	9.6026	0.245
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_f16	11.0375	0.2944	1.7492	0.0148	9.618	0.2456
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_q6_k	11.0324	0.2941	1.7502	0.0149	9.6194	0.2455
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q4_K	11.1806	0.294	1.7593	0.0147	9.4737	0.2378
Q5_K_M	11.1551	0.2981	1.7517	0.0148	9.5453	0.2425
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q6_K	11.214	0.2952	1.7607	0.0148	9.4666	0.2375
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q5_K	11.2016	0.295	1.7607	0.0147	9.4827	0.2381
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q5_K	11.2228	0.2956	1.7591	0.0147	9.478	0.2379
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q8	11.2281	0.2956	1.7602	0.0147	9.4725	0.2377
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q8	11.2281	0.2956	1.7602	0.0147	9.4725	0.2377
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_f16	11.235	0.2959	1.7594	0.0147	9.4772	0.2379
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_f16	11.2353	0.296	1.7605	0.0148	9.4731	0.2378
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q6_K	11.2366	0.296	1.7602	0.0147	9.4764	0.2379
Q4_K_M	11.1952	0.2993	1.759	0.0149	9.5584	0.2428
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q4_K	11.2575	0.2968	1.7615	0.0148	9.5024	0.2388
MXFP4_MOE-output_q8-embd_mxfp4	11.1594	0.2986	1.7503	0.0149	9.8126	0.2529
MXFP4_MOE	13.5779	0.3828	1.8147	0.0159	10.2986	0.2704

gen = ppl_general
gen_er = ppl_general_error
code = ppl_code
code_er = ppl_code_error
math = ppl_math
math_er = ppl_math_error

Table - Precision Loss Columns

model_name	loss_general	loss_code	loss_math
F16	0	0	0
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	0.0911	0.2345	-0.3559
MXFP4_MOE-output_q5_K-router_gate_emb_q5_K	-0.0291	0.1716	-0.1764
MXFP4_MOE-Q5_K	0.2103	0.0915	-0.3539
Q6_K	0.5436	0.143	-1.0846
MXFP4_MOE-Q4_K	0.438	0.1831	-0.096
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_K-router_gate_emb_q6_K	0.4316	0.0972	0.2234
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-router_gate_emb_f16	0.4771	0.0343	0.2537
MXFP4_MOE-Q6_K	0.5564	0.0229	0.2067
MXFP4_MOE-output_q6_k-embd_f16	0.5536	0.0458	0.2944
MXFP4_MOE-F16	0.5209	0.04	0.3841
MXFP4_MOE-Q8	0.7012	0.0114	0.2359
Q8_0	0.7012	0.0114	0.2359
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_f16	0.5063	0.0629	0.3967
MXFP4_MOE-output_f16-router_gate_emb_q6_k	0.4598	0.1201	0.4113
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q4_K	1.8093	0.6407	-1.1096
Q5_K_M	1.5771	0.2059	-0.3622
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q6_K	2.1135	0.7208	-1.1837
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q5_K	2.0006	0.7208	-1.0157
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q5_K	2.1936	0.6293	-1.0647
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q8	2.2419	0.6922	-1.1221
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q8	2.2419	0.6922	-1.1221
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_f16	2.3047	0.6464	-1.0731
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_f16	2.3074	0.7093	-1.1159
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-embd_q6_K	2.3193	0.6922	-1.0814
Q4_K_M	1.9423	0.6235	-0.2255
MXFP4_MOE-output_mxfp4-router_gate_emb_q4_K	2.5096	0.7665	-0.81
MXFP4_MOE-output_q8-embd_mxfp4	1.6163	0.1259	2.428
MXFP4_MOE	23.6389	3.8099	7.501