NVIDIA · Turing
Best AI Models for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB)
Runs only small models well; 7–9B doesn't fit in 4 GB.
4 GB at 128 GB/s: small models only (~3B at Q4), slow decode. A later GDDR6 version of the card has 192 GB/s. No Tensor Cores.
| # | Model | Speed | llmrun Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 25.5 t/s | 25.5 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 47.0 t/s | 47.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 3 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 43.8 t/s | 43.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 24.3 t/s | 24.3 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB | |
| 5 | LFM3 1.7BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB · 57.8 t/s | 57.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB |
| # | Model | Speed ↓ | llmrun Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 25.5 t/s | 25.5 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | LFM3 1.7BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB · 57.8 t/s | 57.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB | |
| 3 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 47.0 t/s | 47.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 4 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 43.8 t/s | 43.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB | |
| 5 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 24.3 t/s | 24.3 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Vision Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 25.5 t/s | 25.5 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 47.0 t/s | 47.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 3 | LFM3 Omni 2BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB · 48.9 t/s | 48.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB | |
| 4 | MiniCPM V 4.7 1BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB · 65.0 t/s | 65.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB | |
| 5 | Cosmos Reason2 2BNVIDIA Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 51.7 t/s | 51.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
The GTX 1650 is an entry card in the 4–6 GB class: it runs only small models well. It is more efficient per watt than most 4–6 GB cards, and the best speed per dollar of the cards compared at ≈$94 used. Turing generation, released 2019.
GTX 1650 strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Low power draw: 75 W board power; a 150 W PSU is enough
Weaknesses
- 7–9B models don't fit: Qwen3.5 9B needs 6.6 GB at Q4 vs 4 GB here
- Slow prompt reading: A 4K-token prompt on Qwen3.5 4B waits 14.2 s for the first token
- No FP8 or NVFP4: Turing predates both; use GGUF, AWQ or GPTQ builds
Speed per dollar and per watt
On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params) at Q4_K_M. New prices are compared with new, used with used. The last two columns are the speed you get per $100 of price and per 100 W of board power; higher is better. The GTX 1650 has no new price, so the New view shows it at its MSRP.
| Card | New price | tok/s | tok/s per $100 | tok/s per 100 W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GTX 16504 GB | about $149 | 23.2 | 15.6 | 30.9 |
RTX 50608 GBBest new value | about $460 | 45.8 | 10.0 | 31.6 |
RTX 507012 GB | about $840 | 68.7 | 8.2 | 27.5 |
RTX 40608 GB | about $520 | 27.8 | 5.3 | 24.2 |
| Card | Used price | tok/s | tok/s per $100 | tok/s per 100 W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GTX 16504 GB | about $94 | 23.2 | 24.7 | 30.9 |
RTX 3060 12GB12 GB | about $329 | 36.8 | 11.2 | 21.6 |
RTX 50608 GBBest used value | about $430 | 45.8 | 10.7 | 31.6 |
RTX 407012 GB | about $575 | 51.5 | 9.0 | 25.8 |
RTX 40608 GB | about $335 | 27.8 | 8.3 | 24.2 |
RTX 4070 SUPER12 GB | about $675 | 51.5 | 7.6 | 23.4 |
RTX 4060 Ti 8GB8 GB | about $400 | 29.4 | 7.4 | 18.4 |
RTX 4070 Ti12 GB | about $722 | 51.5 | 7.1 | 18.1 |
Cost per token: the GTX 1650 against 4–12 GB cards
On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params, Q4_K_M, 4K context). Speed, cost per token and power per token depend on the model.
- Card, used price
- $0.26
- Power
- $0.13
Renting costs as much as buying after ≈700 hours (≈0.5 years at 4 h a day).
Each dot is a card; hover or tap it for its numbers, click to open it. Cards without a price for the chosen basis are left out. How we calculate cost per token
Cards people weigh against the GTX 1650, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.
Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (128 GB/s). Grey rows need more than 4 GB.
- 9BQwen3.5 9B · not at 4-bitneeds 6.6 GB
- 14BQwen3 14B · not at 4-bitneeds 11.9 GB
- 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · not at 4-bitneeds 17.9 GB
- 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · not at 4-bitneeds 22.0 GB
- 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bitneeds 51.3 GB
- 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bitneeds 70.8 GB
Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate
All 151 models on the GTX 1650
Featured onlyBest quant that fits, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works
| Model | Quant | VRAM | Speed | Context | Score | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WeVisOne VL 4BVisionFunctions | IQ3_M | 4.0 GB | 31.3 t/s | 262K | C40, Usable | |
Chandra Ocr 2VisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.8 GB | 22.8 t/s | 262K | C38, Usable | |
Granite Docling 258MVisionChatCodeMath | Q4_K_M | 0.6 GB | 166.4 t/s | 8K | S98, Runs great | |
LFM2.5 8B A1BChatFunctions | IQ3_XS | 4.0 GB | 94.1 t/s | 128K | C44, Usable | |
Dots.ocrVision | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 38.2 t/s | 131K | A74, Runs well | |
Gemma 3 270M ITChat | Q4_K_M | 1.2 GB | 462.2 t/s | — | S100, Runs great | |
Qwen3 VL 2B InstructVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 46.0 t/s | 262K | A70, Runs well | |
Gemma 4 E2BChat | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 24.3 t/s | 131K | B56, Decent | |
Phi 2ChatCode | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 31.5 t/s | 2K | A71, Runs well | |
Qwen2.5 VL 3B InstructVision | Q4_K_M | 3.2 GB | 31.6 t/s | 128K | A71, Runs well | |
Gemma 3 1B ITChat | Q4_K_M | 2.1 GB | 126.1 t/s | 33K | S95, Runs great | |
Qwen3.5 0.8B BaseVision | Q4_K_M | 0.9 GB | 95.6 t/s | 262K | S90, Runs great | |
Typhoon Ocr1.5 2BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 46.0 t/s | 262K | A70, Runs well | |
MiMo V2.6 Distill Qwen 9BVisionCodeFunctions | IQ2_S | 3.8 GB | 23.7 t/s | 262K | C42, Usable | |
Llama 3.2 3B InstructChatFunctions | Q4_K_S | 4.0 GB | 41.8 t/s | 131K | C44, Usable |
Specs
- Architecture
- Turing
- VRAM
- 4 GB GDDR5
- Memory bandwidth
- 128.0 GB/s
- FP16 (dense)
- 5.97 TFLOPS
- CUDA cores
- 896
- Tensor cores
- 0
- Compute capability
- 7.5
- TDP
- 75 W
- Released
- 2019-04-23
- MSRP
- $149
GTX 1650 FAQ
Is the GTX 1650 still worth it in 2026?
At ≈$94 used you get 24.7 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B, which ranks 1st of the 8 cards compared here; it is also the 5th fastest out of 8 cards with 4–6 GB. It runs only small models well; 7–9B doesn't fit in 4 GB.
What is the largest model the GTX 1650 can run?
Qwen3.5 4B (4.7B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_K_M it uses 3.4 GB of 4 GB, and runs at about 25.5 tok/s.
Can the GTX 1650 run 7–9B models?
No. Qwen3.5 9B needs 6.6 GB at Q4, more than the 4 GB on this card.
How many tokens per second does the GTX 1650 give?
About 25.5 tok/s on Qwen3.5 4B at Q4_K_M, with the first token after 14.2 s on a 4K-token prompt.
What power supply does the GTX 1650 need?
Plan a 150 W PSU (2× the 75 W TDP).
Is renting cheaper than buying a GTX 1650?
An RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB) rents from $0.13/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈700 hours (≈0.5 years at 4 h a day).