Riva Translate 4B Instruct — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Riva Translate 4B Instruct is a 4.2B-parameter open language model from NVIDIA. It supports a context window of up to 8,192 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 3.02 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
Runs great on a 24 GB GPU
Runs from 8 GB (Q4_K_M · 8K)Best on 24 GB (Q4_K_M · ~217 tok/s · 8K)Macs from 8 GB (Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s)
Other
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Riva Translate 4B Instruct
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve nvidia/Riva-Translate-4B-Instruct --max-model-len 8192vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Fits on RTX 3060 12GB (8 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~78 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.25
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Riva Translate 4B Instruct Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.3 GB | — | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Fits: 8K context · ~286 tok/s | |
| 2.5 GB | — | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Fits: 8K context · ~257 tok/s | |
| 3.0 GB | — | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Fits: 8K context · ~217 tok/s | |
| 3.5 GB | — | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Fits: 8K context · ~188 tok/s | |
| 4.0 GB | — | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Fits: 8K context · ~166 tok/s | |
| 4.7 GB | — | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Fits: 8K context · ~140 tok/s | |
| 8.9 GB | — | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Fits: 8K context · ~74 tok/s |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization3.7GBat 8K context
- Weights
- 2.5 GB
- KV cache
- 0.9 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 20.3 GB free · ~217 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥232 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~386, RTX 3090 Ti ~217
Which Hardware Can Run Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
Q4_K_M · 3.0 GBRiva Translate 4B Instruct (Q4_K_M) requires 3.0 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 4+ GB is recommended. Using the full 8K context window can add up to 0.6 GB, bringing total usage to 3.7 GB. 52 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 163 devices with unified memory can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB).
≤ 11 GB
≤ 11 GB tier →fits · 4.3 GB free · up to 8K ctx
16 GPUs · 1 Mac class · 2 device families
RTX 3080~164Simulate output on RTX 3080RTX 2080 Ti~133Simulate output on RTX 2080 TiRTX 3070 Ti~131Simulate output on RTX 3070 TiM3*8 GB~24Simulate output on iMac 24" M3 (8 GB)Orin Nano~22Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super)iPhone~16Simulate output on iPhone 1720 GB
fits · 16.3 GB free · up to 8K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~159Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 28.3 GB free · up to 8K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~386Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~107Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~36Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~44Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~29Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
Similar models
6| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle | 64.0 | 5 GB | ~231 | same size |
| Granite Vision 4.1 4BIBM | — | 4 GB | ~228 | same size |
| Qwen3 VL 4B InstructAlibaba | — | 4.5 GB | ~208 | same size |
| MiniCPM V 4OpenBMB | — | 3.1 GB | ~236 | same size |
| Phi 3.5 Vision InstructMicrosoft | — | 9.2 GB | ~183 | same size |
| Gemma 4 E4B IT AssistantGoogle | — | 2.7 GB | ~243 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- NVIDIA
- Parameters
- 4.2B
- Architecture
- MistralForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 8,192 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 131,072
- Release Date
- 2025-06-09
- License
- Other
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Riva Translate 4B Instruct need?
Riva Translate 4B Instruct requires 3.0 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 8.9 GB at BF16. Full 8K context adds up to 0.6 GB (3.7 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 4.2B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 2.5 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.5 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
Fit ratings and hardware model lists check this model with room for a 16K-token context, which needs a little more memory.
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 1.2 GB (at full 8K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
What's the best quantization for Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
For Riva Translate 4B Instruct, Q4_K_M (3.0 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (3.5 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 2.3 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run Riva Translate 4B Instruct on a Mac?
Yes — MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB) and 145 other Macs can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 3.0 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run Riva Translate 4B Instruct locally?
Yes — Riva Translate 4B Instruct can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, Riva Translate 4B Instruct can reach ~1589 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~217 tok/s. Speed depends mainly on GPU memory bandwidth. Real-world results typically within ±20%.
tok/s = (bandwidth GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency
Example: NVIDIA B200 → 8000 ÷ 3.02 × 0.65 = ~1722 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (3.0 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 2.51 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 8.36 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 1.78 GB.
Which GPUs can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
52 consumer GPUs can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct at Q4_K_M. Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. 52 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
Which devices can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct?
163 devices with unified memory can run Riva Translate 4B Instruct at Q4_K_M (3.0 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Beelink GTR9 Pro (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.