Qwen3 4B NWC — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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Qwen3 4B NWC is a 5.5B-parameter open language model from Parda21 in the Qwen 3 family. It supports a context window of up to 40,960 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 3.81 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 · 40K)Best on 24 GB (Q4_K_M · ~172 tok/s · 40K)Macs from 8 GB (Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s)
Apache 2.0
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run Qwen3 4B NWC
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.Each way opens a step-by-step guide for your OS and quant.
Recommended
vllm serve Parda21/Qwen3-4B-NWC --max-model-len 16384vLLM repo with its own quantisation
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Ways to runOther ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Runs on RTX 3060 12GB (6 GB headroom) · Q4_K_M
- Generation speed
- ~61 tok/s
- generation speed
- Cost per 1M output tokens
- $0.27
- per 1M output tokens
How Much VRAM Does Qwen3 4B NWC Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | On RTX 4090 (reference) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.8 GB | 5.7 GB | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Fits: 40K context · ~231 tok/s | |
| 3.2 GB | 6 GB | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Fits: 40K context · ~205 tok/s | |
| 3.8 GB | 6.6 GB | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Fits: 40K context · ~172 tok/s | |
| 4.4 GB | 7.3 GB | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Fits: 40K context · ~148 tok/s | |
| 5.1 GB | 7.9 GB | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Fits: 40K context · ~130 tok/s | |
| 6.0 GB | 8.9 GB | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Fits: 40K context · ~109 tok/s | |
| 11.6 GB | 14.4 GB | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Fits: 40K context · ~57 tok/s |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization5.1GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 3.3 GB
- KV cache
- 1.5 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 18.9 GB free · ~172 tok/s
≥50 tok/s needs ≥293 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~306, RTX 3090 Ti ~172
Which Hardware Can Run Qwen3 4B NWC?
Q4_K_M · 3.8 GBQwen3 4B NWC (Q4_K_M) requires 3.8 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 5+ GB is recommended. Using the full 41K context window can add up to 3.6 GB, bringing total usage to 7.4 GB. 52 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. 163 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 4B NWC, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB).
≤ 11 GB
≤ 11 GB tier →fits · 2.9 GB free · up to 40K ctx
16 GPUs · 1 Mac class · 2 device families
RTX 3080~130Simulate output on RTX 3080RTX 2080 Ti~105Simulate output on RTX 2080 TiRTX 3070 Ti~104Simulate output on RTX 3070 TiM3*8 GB~19Simulate output on iMac 24" M3 (8 GB)Orin Nano~17Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (Super)iPhone~13Simulate output on iPhone 1720 GB
fits · 14.9 GB free · up to 40K ctx
1 GPU
RX 7900 XT~126Simulate output on RX 7900 XT32–40 GB
fits · 26.9 GB free · up to 40K ctx
1 GPU · 3 Mac classes · 4 device families
RTX 5090~306Simulate output on RTX 5090M5 Max36 GB~85Simulate output on Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB)M532 GB~28Simulate output on MacBook Air 13" M5 (32 GB)Orin~35Simulate output on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GBSnapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100)~23Simulate output on Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
Alternatives to Qwen3 4B NWC
Qwen 3 family · 79 models →Similar models
5| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youtu Parsing OmniTencent | — | 12.7 GB | ~59 | same size |
| Gemma 3n E2B ITGoogle | — | 5.9 GB | ~183 | same size |
| Qwen2.5 Omni 3BAlibaba | — | 6 GB | ~180 | same size |
| TLive Omni 4BTaoLiveAIGC | — | 13.3 GB | ~54 | same size |
| T5gemma 2B 2B Ul2Google | — | 6 GB | ~178 | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- Parda21
- Family
- Qwen 3
- Parameters
- 5.5B
- Architecture
- Qwen3ForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 40,960 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 151,936
- Release Date
- 2026-09-19
- License
- Apache 2.0
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does Qwen3 4B NWC need?
Qwen3 4B NWC requires 3.8 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 11.6 GB at BF16. Full 41K context adds up to 3.6 GB (7.4 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 5.5B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 3.3 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 ≈ 4.1 GB (at full 41K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
What's the best quantization for Qwen3 4B NWC?
For Qwen3 4B NWC, Q4_K_M (3.8 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (4.4 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 2.8 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run Qwen3 4B NWC on a Mac?
Yes — MacBook Air 13" M3 (8 GB) and 145 other Macs can run Qwen3 4B NWC. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 3.8 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run Qwen3 4B NWC locally?
Yes — Qwen3 4B NWC can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
How fast is Qwen3 4B NWC?
At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 4B NWC can reach ~1260 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~172 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 ÷ 3.81 × 0.65 = ~1365 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (3.8 GB)
Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
What's the download size of Qwen3 4B NWC?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 3.32 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 11.08 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 2.35 GB.
Which GPUs can run Qwen3 4B NWC?
52 consumer GPUs can run Qwen3 4B NWC 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 Qwen3 4B NWC?
163 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 4B NWC at Q4_K_M (3.8 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.