diff --git a/gpu/gpu.go b/gpu/gpu.go
index 58144991..6e25cb46 100644
--- a/gpu/gpu.go
+++ b/gpu/gpu.go
@@ -360,14 +360,17 @@ func GetGPUInfo() GpuInfoList {
 					"before",
 					"total", format.HumanBytes2(cpus[0].TotalMemory),
 					"free", format.HumanBytes2(cpus[0].FreeMemory),
+					"free_swap", format.HumanBytes2(cpus[0].FreeSwap),
 				),
 				slog.Group(
 					"now",
 					"total", format.HumanBytes2(mem.TotalMemory),
 					"free", format.HumanBytes2(mem.FreeMemory),
+					"free_swap", format.HumanBytes2(mem.FreeSwap),
 				),
 			)
 			cpus[0].FreeMemory = mem.FreeMemory
+			cpus[0].FreeSwap = mem.FreeSwap
 		}
 
 		var memInfo C.mem_info_t
diff --git a/gpu/gpu_darwin.go b/gpu/gpu_darwin.go
index 39d8fcf8..cb066e58 100644
--- a/gpu/gpu_darwin.go
+++ b/gpu/gpu_darwin.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func GetCPUMem() (memInfo, error) {
 	return memInfo{
 		TotalMemory: uint64(C.getPhysicalMemory()),
 		FreeMemory:  uint64(C.getFreeMemory()),
+		// FreeSwap omitted as Darwin uses dynamic paging
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/gpu/gpu_linux.go b/gpu/gpu_linux.go
index a099bf82..0d08ce8d 100644
--- a/gpu/gpu_linux.go
+++ b/gpu/gpu_linux.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ var OneapiMgmtName = "libze_intel_gpu.so"
 
 func GetCPUMem() (memInfo, error) {
 	var mem memInfo
-	var total, available, free, buffers, cached uint64
+	var total, available, free, buffers, cached, freeSwap uint64
 	f, err := os.Open("/proc/meminfo")
 	if err != nil {
 		return mem, err
@@ -70,20 +70,21 @@ func GetCPUMem() (memInfo, error) {
 			_, err = fmt.Sscanf(line, "Buffers:%d", &buffers)
 		case strings.HasPrefix(line, "Cached:"):
 			_, err = fmt.Sscanf(line, "Cached:%d", &cached)
+		case strings.HasPrefix(line, "SwapFree:"):
+			_, err = fmt.Sscanf(line, "SwapFree:%d", &freeSwap)
 		default:
 			continue
 		}
 		if err != nil {
 			return mem, err
 		}
-
-		if total > 0 && available > 0 {
-			mem.TotalMemory = total * format.KibiByte
-			mem.FreeMemory = available * format.KibiByte
-			return mem, nil
-		}
 	}
 	mem.TotalMemory = total * format.KibiByte
-	mem.FreeMemory = (free + buffers + cached) * format.KibiByte
+	mem.FreeSwap = freeSwap * format.KibiByte
+	if available > 0 {
+		mem.FreeMemory = available * format.KibiByte
+	} else {
+		mem.FreeMemory = (free + buffers + cached) * format.KibiByte
+	}
 	return mem, nil
 }
diff --git a/gpu/gpu_windows.go b/gpu/gpu_windows.go
index f8c2e76f..cd0629da 100644
--- a/gpu/gpu_windows.go
+++ b/gpu/gpu_windows.go
@@ -51,5 +51,5 @@ func GetCPUMem() (memInfo, error) {
 	if r1 == 0 {
 		return memInfo{}, fmt.Errorf("GlobalMemoryStatusEx failed: %w", err)
 	}
-	return memInfo{TotalMemory: memStatus.TotalPhys, FreeMemory: memStatus.AvailPhys}, nil
+	return memInfo{TotalMemory: memStatus.TotalPhys, FreeMemory: memStatus.AvailPhys, FreeSwap: memStatus.AvailPageFile}, nil
 }
diff --git a/gpu/types.go b/gpu/types.go
index 7a7749b8..8d22b06b 100644
--- a/gpu/types.go
+++ b/gpu/types.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 type memInfo struct {
 	TotalMemory uint64 `json:"total_memory,omitempty"`
 	FreeMemory  uint64 `json:"free_memory,omitempty"`
+	FreeSwap    uint64 `json:"free_swap,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Beginning of an `ollama info` command
diff --git a/llm/server.go b/llm/server.go
index 07c58cff..8f37aa23 100644
--- a/llm/server.go
+++ b/llm/server.go
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ func NewLlamaServer(gpus gpu.GpuInfoList, model string, ggml *GGML, adapters, pr
 	var estimate MemoryEstimate
 	var systemTotalMemory uint64
 	var systemFreeMemory uint64
+	var systemSwapFreeMemory uint64
 
 	systemMemInfo, err := gpu.GetCPUMem()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -95,7 +96,8 @@ func NewLlamaServer(gpus gpu.GpuInfoList, model string, ggml *GGML, adapters, pr
 	} else {
 		systemTotalMemory = systemMemInfo.TotalMemory
 		systemFreeMemory = systemMemInfo.FreeMemory
-		slog.Debug("system memory", "total", format.HumanBytes2(systemTotalMemory), "free", systemFreeMemory)
+		systemSwapFreeMemory = systemMemInfo.FreeSwap
+		slog.Debug("system memory", "total", format.HumanBytes2(systemTotalMemory), "free", format.HumanBytes2(systemFreeMemory), "free_swap", format.HumanBytes2(systemSwapFreeMemory))
 	}
 
 	// If the user wants zero GPU layers, reset the gpu list to be CPU/system ram info
@@ -125,9 +127,10 @@ func NewLlamaServer(gpus gpu.GpuInfoList, model string, ggml *GGML, adapters, pr
 	// On linux, over-allocating CPU memory will almost always result in an error
 	if runtime.GOOS == "linux" {
 		systemMemoryRequired := estimate.TotalSize - estimate.VRAMSize
-		if systemMemoryRequired > systemTotalMemory {
-			slog.Warn("model request too large for system", "requested", format.HumanBytes2(systemMemoryRequired), "system", format.HumanBytes2(systemTotalMemory))
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("model requires more system memory (%s) than is available (%s)", format.HumanBytes2(systemMemoryRequired), format.HumanBytes2(systemTotalMemory))
+		available := min(systemTotalMemory, systemFreeMemory+systemSwapFreeMemory)
+		if systemMemoryRequired > available {
+			slog.Warn("model request too large for system", "requested", format.HumanBytes2(systemMemoryRequired), "available", available, "total", format.HumanBytes2(systemTotalMemory), "free", format.HumanBytes2(systemFreeMemory), "swap", format.HumanBytes2(systemSwapFreeMemory))
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("model requires more system memory (%s) than is available (%s)", format.HumanBytes2(systemMemoryRequired), format.HumanBytes2(available))
 		}
 	}