diff --git a/llm/llm.go b/llm/llm.go
index 940c0d93..f7ed09e2 100644
--- a/llm/llm.go
+++ b/llm/llm.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package llm
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"runtime"
@@ -41,94 +40,76 @@ func New(workDir, model string, adapters, projectors []string, opts api.Options)
 		opts.NumCtx = 4
 	}
 
-	fmt.Println("size", ggml.Size)
-	fmt.Println("filetype", ggml.FileType())
-	fmt.Println("architecture", ggml.ModelFamily())
-	fmt.Println("type", ggml.ModelType())
-	fmt.Println("name", ggml.Name())
-	fmt.Println("embd", ggml.NumEmbed())
-	fmt.Println("head", ggml.NumHead())
-	fmt.Println("head_kv", ggml.NumHeadKv())
-	fmt.Println("gqa", ggml.NumGQA())
-
-	available, _ := gpu.CheckVRAM()
-
-	// For now assume filesize = model size
-	// TODO: use actual model size
-	requiredModel := ggml.Size
+	vram, _ := gpu.CheckVRAM()
+	size := ggml.Size
 
 	// fp16 k,v matrices require = n_ctx * n_layer * n_embd / n_head * n_head_kv * 2 bytes each * 2 key and value
-	requiredKv := 2 * 2 * int64(opts.NumCtx) * int64(ggml.NumLayers()) * int64(ggml.NumEmbed()) * int64(ggml.NumHeadKv()) / int64(ggml.NumHead())
+	kv := 2 * 2 * int64(opts.NumCtx) * int64(ggml.NumLayers()) * int64(ggml.NumEmbed()) * int64(ggml.NumHeadKv()) / int64(ggml.NumHead())
 
 	// this amount is the overhead + tensors in memory
 	// TODO: get this from the llama.cpp's graph calcluations instead of
 	// estimating it's 1/6 * kv_cache_size * num_gqa
-	requiredAlloc := int64(ggml.NumGQA()) * requiredKv / 6
-
-	requiredTotal := requiredModel + requiredKv + requiredAlloc
-
-	log.Println("system memory bytes:", available)
-	log.Println("required model bytes:", requiredModel)
-	log.Println("required kv bytes:", requiredKv)
-	log.Println("required alloc bytes:", requiredAlloc)
-	log.Println("required total bytes:", requiredTotal)
+	graph := int64(ggml.NumGQA()) * kv / 6
 
 	info := gpu.GetGPUInfo()
 	library := info.Library
-
-	if opts.NumGPU == -1 {
-		// default to offloading all layers
-		opts.NumGPU = int(ggml.NumLayers()) + 1
-	}
-
-	// decide how many layers to put on the GPU
-	if opts.NumGPU > 0 {
-		switch runtime.GOOS {
-		case "darwin":
-			if requiredTotal > available {
-				log.Println("not enough vram available, falling back to CPU only")
-				opts.NumGPU = 0
-			}
-		default:
-			if library == "cpu" || library == "default" {
-				opts.NumGPU = 0
-				break
-			}
-
-			// alloc buffer and kv cache is allocated as a fixed amount on the main gpu
-			// TODO: find the largest GPU and only reserve memory there
-			avgAvailable := available / int64(info.DeviceCount)
-			if requiredAlloc > avgAvailable {
-				log.Printf("not enough vram available, falling back to CPU only")
-				library = "cpu"
-				opts.NumGPU = 0
-				break
-			}
-
-			// we don't know which GPU will be used, so estimate
-			// the scratch buffer space on all of them
-			// TODO: allocate less layers to the GPU with the scratch buffer
-			// and more to the others (based on their available memory)
-			available -= requiredAlloc * int64(info.DeviceCount)
-
-			// no offloading required
-			if requiredModel+requiredKv <= available {
-				break
-			}
-
-			// fill remaining vram with layers
-			log.Println("splitting", available, "of available memory bytes into layers")
-			bytesPerLayer := int64((requiredModel + requiredKv) / int64(ggml.NumLayers()))
-			log.Println("bytes per layer:", bytesPerLayer)
-			layers := available / bytesPerLayer
-			log.Println("total required with split:", requiredAlloc+(layers*bytesPerLayer))
-			if layers < int64(opts.NumGPU) {
-				opts.NumGPU = int(layers)
-			}
+	switch runtime.GOOS {
+	case "darwin":
+		if opts.NumGPU == 0 {
+			break
 		}
+
+		if size+kv+graph > vram {
+			log.Println("not enough vram available, falling back to CPU only")
+			opts.NumGPU = 0
+			break
+		}
+
+		opts.NumGPU = 1
+	default:
+		if library == "cpu" || library == "default" {
+			log.Println("GPU not available, falling back to CPU")
+			opts.NumGPU = 0
+			break
+		}
+
+		// don't use GPU at all if no layers are loaded
+		if opts.NumGPU == 0 {
+			library = "cpu"
+			break
+		}
+
+		// user-defined GPU count
+		if opts.NumGPU != -1 {
+			break
+		}
+
+		// the "main" GPU needs the most memory and determines the limit
+		// of how many layers can be loaded. It needs to fit:
+		// 1. the full compute graph allocation for all devices (graph)
+		// 2. the proportional kv cache for all devices (kv * % layers)
+		// 3. the proportional model (size * % layers / # devices)
+		// This estimates the number of layers
+		maxlayers := int64(ggml.NumLayers()) + 1
+		devices := int64(info.DeviceCount)
+		avg := vram / devices
+		layers := maxlayers * (avg - graph) / (kv + size/devices)
+		if layers > maxlayers {
+			layers = maxlayers
+		}
+
+		// 1 + 2 must fit on the main gpu
+		min := graph + kv*layers/maxlayers
+		if layers <= 0 || min > avg {
+			log.Printf("not enough vram available, falling back to CPU only")
+			library = "cpu"
+			opts.NumGPU = 0
+			break
+		}
+
+		opts.NumGPU = int(layers)
 	}
 
-	opts.NumGQA = 0
 	opts.RopeFrequencyBase = 0.0
 	opts.RopeFrequencyScale = 0.0
 	return newLlmServer(library, model, adapters, projectors, opts)