Qwen1.5 32B Chat — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
Chat
Qwen1.5 32B Chat is a 32.5B-parameter open language model from Alibaba in the Qwen family. It supports a context window of up to 32,768 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 20.34 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
11.3K downloads
108 likesSpecifications
- Publisher
- Alibaba
- Family
- Qwen
- Parameters
- 32.5B
- Architecture
- Qwen2ForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 32,768 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 152,064
- Release Date
- 2024-04-03
- License
- Other
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HuggingFace
How Much VRAM Does Qwen1.5 32B Chat Need?
Select a quantization to see compatible GPUs below.
| Quantization | Bits | VRAM | + Context | File Size | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | 3.40 | 14.7 GB | 22.7 GB | 13.82 GB | 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements |
| Q3_K_S | 3.50 | 15.1 GB | 23.1 GB | 14.22 GB | 3-bit small quantization |
| Q3_K_M | 3.90 | 16.7 GB | 24.7 GB | 15.85 GB | 3-bit medium quantization |
| Q4_K_M | 4.80 | 20.3 GB | 28.4 GB | 19.51 GB | 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot |
| Q5_K_M | 5.70 | 24 GB | 32.0 GB | 23.16 GB | 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff |
| Q6_K | 6.60 | 27.7 GB | 35.7 GB | 26.82 GB | 6-bit quantization, very good quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.00 | 33.4 GB | 41.4 GB | 32.51 GB | 8-bit quantization, near-lossless |
est.= calculated VRAM estimate; no published GGUF file found for that quantization yet. Other rows are verified against real community uploads.
Which GPUs Can Run Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
Q4_K_M · 20.3 GBQwen1.5 32B Chat (Q4_K_M) requires 20.3 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 27+ GB is recommended. Using the full 33K context window can add up to 8.1 GB, bringing total usage to 28.4 GB. 7 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
Runs great
— Plenty of headroom
Which Devices Can Run Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
Q4_K_M · 20.3 GB41 devices with unified memory can run Qwen1.5 32B Chat, including NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB, Mac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB).
Runs great
— Plenty of headroomDecent
— Enough memory, may be tightWhere to Download Qwen1.5 32B Chat
Community quantizations of this model — GGUF for llama.cpp, Ollama, and LM Studio, plus AWQ/MLX variants where available.
Benchmarks
Benchmark details →Related Models
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much VRAM does Qwen1.5 32B Chat need?
Qwen1.5 32B Chat requires 20.3 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 65.9 GB at BF16. Full 33K context adds up to 8.1 GB (28.4 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 32.5B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 19.5 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.8 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 8.9 GB (at full 33K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Q4_K_M20.3 GBQ4_K_M + full context28.4 GB- Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
Yes, at Q5_K_M (24 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like Q6_K (27.7 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.
- What's the best quantization for Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
For Qwen1.5 32B Chat, Q4_K_M (20.3 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_S (23.2 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ3_XS at 14.3 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
IQ3_XS14.3 GBIQ3_M15.5 GBIQ4_XS18.3 GBQ4_K_M ★20.3 GBQ5_K_M24.0 GBBF1665.9 GB★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
- Can I run Qwen1.5 32B Chat on a Mac?
Qwen1.5 32B Chat requires at least 14.3 GB at IQ3_XS, which exceeds the unified memory of most consumer Macs. You would need a Mac Studio or Mac Pro with a high-memory configuration.
- Can I run Qwen1.5 32B Chat locally?
Yes — Qwen1.5 32B Chat can run locally on consumer hardware. At Q4_K_M quantization it needs 20.3 GB of VRAM. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
- How fast is Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
At Q4_K_M, Qwen1.5 32B Chat can reach ~216 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~32 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 ÷ 20.3 × 0.65 = ~256 tok/s
Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (20.3 GB)
~256 tok/s~32 tok/s~256 tok/s~216 tok/sReal-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.
- What's the download size of Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 19.51 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 65.02 GB. The smallest option (IQ3_XS) is 13.41 GB.
- Which GPUs can run Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
7 consumer GPUs can run Qwen1.5 32B Chat at Q4_K_M (20.3 GB). Top options include NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. 1 GPU have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.
- Which devices can run Qwen1.5 32B Chat?
41 devices with unified memory can run Qwen1.5 32B Chat at Q4_K_M (20.3 GB), including AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) Laptop, ASUS Ascent GX10, Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB), Beelink GTR9 Pro (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.