llmrun
AlibabaQwen 3Qwen3ForCausalLM

Qwen3 14B — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility

ChatFunctions

Qwen3 14B is a 14-billion parameter instruction-tuned model from Alibaba Cloud's Qwen 3 series. It occupies a practical middle ground in the Qwen 3 lineup, offering stronger reasoning and generation quality than the 8B variant while remaining manageable on GPUs with 16GB or more of VRAM in quantized formats. The model supports hybrid thinking mode for flexible reasoning depth. Qwen3 14B is well suited for chat, instruction following, coding assistance, and multilingual tasks. It benefits from the generational improvements of Qwen 3 in pretraining data and alignment techniques, delivering performance that competes with larger models from previous generations. Released under the Apache 2.0 license.

14.8B params · dense41K contextApache 2.012.9M downloads533 likes2.6M quant downloads
S

Runs great on a 24 GB GPU

Runs from8 GB IQ2_M · 16KBest on24 GB Q4_K_M · ~69 tok/s · 40KMacs from16 GB Q4_K_M · ~15 tok/s

Score 98#65 of 106 open#13 of 36 that fit 24 GBApache 2.0

Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB

Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate

Run Qwen3 14B

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

Ollama
one command · needs Ollama installed
$ollama run qwen3:14b

Q4_K_M fits fully on the RTX 4090 · 12.1 GB free · 16K context

Download: Qwen3-14B-Q4_K_M.gguf9.00 GBQwen

install, OS, other quants

Ways to runOther ways

each opens step-by-step

Run in cloud

Your own private copy · Q4_K_M · 24 GB GPU

  • The easiest way to try this model
  • Running in a few minutes, easy setup
  • Chat right here or connect any app

$5+ bonus for new users

How Much VRAM Does Qwen3 14B Need?

Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.

QuantizationVRAM+32KOn RTX 4090 (reference)
6.9 GB11.9 GB2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvementsFits: 40K context · ~95 tok/s
7.1 GB12.1 GB3-bit small — 3-bit small quantizationFits: 40K context · ~92 tok/s
7.8 GB12.9 GB3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantizationFits: 40K context · ~84 tok/s
8.0 GB13.1 GB4-bit · legacy — 4-bit legacy quantizationFits: 40K context · ~82 tok/s
9.5 GB14.5 GB4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spotFits: 40K context · ~69 tok/s
11.2 GB16.2 GB5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoffFits: 40K context · ~59 tok/s
12.8 GB17.9 GB6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good qualityFits: 40K context · ~51 tok/s
15.4 GB20.4 GB8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-losslessFits: 40K context · ~43 tok/s

Selected Q4_K_M

4-bit medium quantization

11.9GBat 16K context

Weights
8.9 GB
KV cache
2.7 GB
Overhead
0.3 GB

Fits RTX 4090 (reference) · 12.2 GB free · ~69 tok/s

≥50 tok/s needs ≥730 GB/s · RTX 5090 ~123, RTX 3090 Ti ~69

Which Hardware Can Run Qwen3 14B?

Q4_K_M · 9.5 GB

Qwen3 14B (Q4_K_M) requires 9.5 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 13+ GB is recommended. Using the full 41K context window can add up to 6.4 GB, bringing total usage to 15.9 GB. 40 GPUs can run it, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. 150 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 14B, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256GB), Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB), Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB).

By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
8 GB · RTX 4060IQ2_M · 8 GB · ~32 tok/s · 16K8 GB tier →
12 GB · RTX 3060 12GBQ4_K_M · 11.9 GB · ~25 tok/s · 16K12 GB tier →
16 GB · RTX 5060 Ti 16GBQ4_K_M · 11.9 GB · ~31 tok/s · 40K16 GB tier →
24 GB · RTX 4090referenceQ4_K_M · 11.9 GB · ~69 tok/s · 40K24 GB tier →
Mac 32 GB · Mac Mini M4Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB · ~9 tok/s · 40KMacs →
Mac 64 GB · Mac Studio M4 MaxQ4_K_M · 11.9 GB · ~40 tok/s · 40KMacs →

How good is Qwen3 14B?

The llmrun Score merges 7 public benchmark boards into a single figure, where 100 represents the average for open models.

Score vs VRAM in the 24 GB tier

  • Qwen3 14B
  • Other models
  • Best Score for its VRAM

#13 of 36 that fit 24 GB

Each dot is a model at the best quant that fits a 24 GB GPU. The line steps up to the best Score available at each amount of VRAM; a dot below it is beaten by a model that needs no more memory.

Full 24 GB ranking →

Benchmarks

The 6 boards that weigh most in the llmrun Score, of 7 with a result for this model; badges show who ran the test.

  • GPQA Diamond

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Independent

    63.8%

    #42/100 open

    Independent
  • AIME 2024/2025

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Independent

    66.4%

    #35/88 open

    Independent
  • SciCode

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Lab-reported

    31.6%

    #58/72 open

    Lab-reported
  • CritPt

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Lab-reported

    0.0%

    #77/84 open

    Lab-reported
  • DTBench

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Lab-reported

    64.0%

    #41/70 open

    Lab-reported
  • LMCA

    Epoch AI · Apr 2025Lab-reported

    18.2%

    #37/56 open

    Lab-reported

In the 24 GB class

36 models fit 24 GB

Same Score, only models that fit 24 GB at their best quant: the ranking a 24 GB owner actually chooses from.

  1. #1

    122.0

    ~38 tok/s · 17.9 GB

  2. #2

    111.2

    ~38 tok/s · 17.9 GB

  3. #3

    106.8

    ~151 tok/s · 22.0 GB

  4. #4

    106.7

    ~32 tok/s · 21.7 GB

  5. #5

    105.8

    ~171 tok/s · 16.5 GB

  6. #6

    105.8

    ~151 tok/s · 22.0 GB

Alternatives to Qwen3 14B

Qwen 3 family · 79 models →

Official models with an llmrun Score, each answering one question; numbers are at the best quant that fits a 24 GB GPU.

Similar models

10
ModelScoreVRAMtok/sWhy it is similar
Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba122.017.9 GB~38similar score
Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba111.217.9 GB~38similar score
Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle105.816.5 GB~171similar score
Qwen3.5 35B A3BAlibaba105.822 GB~151similar score
Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba103.817.9 GB~38similar score
Seed OSS 36B InstructByteDance-Seed102.522.8 GB~31similar score
Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba99.46.6 GB~103similar score
Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba98.53.4 GB~201similar score
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BDeepSeek97.223 GB~34similar score
QwQ 32BAlibaba96.223 GB~34similar score
Fine-tunes & variants(14)

Specifications

Publisher
Alibaba
Family
Qwen 3
Parameters
14.8B
Architecture
Qwen3ForCausalLM
Context Length
40,960 tokens
Vocabulary Size
151,936
Release Date
2025-04-27
License
Apache 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

How much VRAM does Qwen3 14B need?

Qwen3 14B requires 9.5 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 30.2 GB at BF16. Full 41K context adds up to 6.4 GB (15.9 GB total).

VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead

Weights = 14.8B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 8.9 GB

KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 0.6 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 ≈ 7 GB (at full 41K context)

VRAM usage by quantization

9.5 GB
15.9 GB

Learn more about VRAM estimation →

Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 run Qwen3 14B?

Yes, at Q8_0 (15.4 GB) or lower. Higher quantizations like BF16 (30.2 GB) exceed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's 24 GB.

What's the best quantization for Qwen3 14B?

For Qwen3 14B, Q4_K_M (9.5 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q4_K_L (9.7 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is IQ2_XXS at 4.7 GB.

VRAM requirement by quantization

IQ2_XXS
4.7 GB
IQ3_S
6.9 GB
Q3_K_L
8.2 GB
Q4_K_M ★
9.5 GB
Q5_0
9.9 GB
BF16
30.2 GB

★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.

Learn more about quantization →

Can I run Qwen3 14B on a Mac?

Yes — Mac Mini M2 Pro (16 GB) and 133 other Macs can run Qwen3 14B. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 9.5 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).

Can I run Qwen3 14B locally?

Yes — Qwen3 14B can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.

How fast is Qwen3 14B?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 14B can reach ~505 tok/s on AMD Instinct MI350X. On NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090: ~69 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 ÷ 9.5 × 0.65 = ~547 tok/s

Estimated speed at Q4_K_M (9.5 GB)

~547 tok/s
~69 tok/s
~547 tok/s
~505 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on batch size, quantization kernel, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the download size of Qwen3 14B?

At Q4_K_M, the download is about 8.86 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 29.54 GB. The smallest option (IQ2_XXS) is 4.06 GB.

Which GPUs can run Qwen3 14B?

40 consumer GPUs can run Qwen3 14B at Q4_K_M. Top options include AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. 26 GPUs have plenty of headroom for comfortable inference.

Which devices can run Qwen3 14B?

150 devices with unified memory can run Qwen3 14B at Q4_K_M (9.5 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.