Qwen · Dense · Apache 2.0

Can I run Qwen2.5 14B locally?

The proven 14B before Qwen3. Still excellent and has more fine-tunes available today.

Parameters
14.8B
VRAM at Q4
11 GB
Max context
131K
Released
2024-09

Memory needed by quantisation

Total includes weights, an 8K-token KV cache and runtime overhead. Lower quants trade quality for size.

QuantBits/weightWeightsTotal neededQuality
FP16 16 28 GB 31 GB Full precision. Reference quality, 2× the size of 8-bit.
Q8_0 8.5 15 GB 17 GB Effectively lossless. The safe choice when it fits.
Q6_K 6.56 11 GB 14 GB Near-lossless; quality loss is hard to measure.
Q5_K_M 5.67 9.8 GB 12 GB Very good. A common sweet spot above Q4.
Q4_K_M 4.83 8.3 GB 11 GB The default. Best size/quality trade-off for local use.
Q3_K_M 3.91 6.7 GB 9.3 GB Noticeable degradation; useful to squeeze a size up.
Q2_K 3.35 5.8 GB 8.3 GB Aggressive. Quality drops a lot — last resort to fit.

Which hardware runs Qwen2.5 14B?

Best quantisation that fits each device at 8K context, with a rough speed estimate. Try your exact setup →

HardwareMemoryFitBest quantSpeed
RTX 3060 12 GB 12 GB Runs well Q4 ~29 tok/s
RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB 16 GB Runs well Q6 ~17 tok/s
RTX 5070 12 GB Runs well Q4 ~54 tok/s
RTX 4070 Super 12 GB Runs well Q4 ~41 tok/s
Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Runs well Q8 ~37 tok/s
RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Runs well Q6 ~53 tok/s
RTX 4070 Ti Super 16 GB Runs well Q6 ~40 tok/s
RTX 3090 24 GB Runs well Q8 ~43 tok/s
Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Runs well Q8 ~44 tok/s
RTX 5080 16 GB Runs well Q6 ~57 tok/s
RTX 4080 Super 16 GB Runs well Q6 ~44 tok/s
RTX 4090 24 GB Runs well Q8 ~46 tok/s
RTX 5090 32 GB Runs well FP16 ~44 tok/s
RTX A6000 48 GB Runs well FP16 ~19 tok/s
RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB Runs well FP16 ~23 tok/s
A100 80 GB 80 GB Runs well FP16 ~50 tok/s
H100 80 GB 80 GB Runs well FP16 ~81 tok/s
Mac · M1/M2/M3 (base), 16 GB 16 GB Runs well Q4 ~8.1 tok/s
Mac · M4 (base), 24 GB 24 GB Runs well Q6 ~7.1 tok/s
Mac · M4 Pro, 48 GB 48 GB Runs well FP16 ~6.6 tok/s
Mac · M1/M2/M3 Max, 32 GB 32 GB Runs well Q8 ~18 tok/s
Mac · M4 Max, 64 GB 64 GB Runs well FP16 ~13 tok/s
Mac · M1/M2/M3 Max, 64 GB 64 GB Runs well FP16 ~9.7 tok/s
Mac · M3/M4 Max, 128 GB 128 GB Runs well FP16 ~13 tok/s
Mac Studio · M1/M2 Ultra, 128 GB 128 GB Runs well FP16 ~19 tok/s
Mac Studio · M3 Ultra, 256 GB 256 GB Runs well FP16 ~20 tok/s
Mac Studio · M3 Ultra, 512 GB 512 GB Runs well FP16 ~20 tok/s
CPU only · 16 GB RAM 16 GB Runs well Q5 ~4.1 tok/s
CPU only · 32 GB RAM 32 GB Runs well Q8 ~3.2 tok/s
CPU only · 64 GB RAM 64 GB Runs well FP16 ~1.9 tok/s
CPU only · 128 GB RAM 128 GB Runs well FP16 ~2.2 tok/s
RTX 3080 10 GB 10 GB Runs (tight) Q3 ~76 tok/s
RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB 8 GB Won't fit — —
Mac · M1/M2/M3 (base), 8 GB 8 GB Won't fit — —
CPU only · 8 GB RAM 8 GB Won't fit — —

GPUs that run Qwen2.5 14B well

The most affordable cards in our list that run it at a good quantisation.

Hardware links are affiliate links — they don't change the recommendation.

What Qwen2.5 14B is good for

Related models

FAQ

How much VRAM does Qwen2.5 14B need?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen2.5 14B needs about 11 GB including a 8K-token context and overhead (8.3 GB for the weights alone). Higher quantisation needs more; see the table for every level.

What is the cheapest way to run Qwen2.5 14B?

The smallest device that runs it well in our list is the RTX 5070 (12 GB). Anything with at least that much memory should handle it at a usable quantisation.

Is Qwen2.5 14B good for general chat & assistance?

The proven 14B before Qwen3. Still excellent and has more fine-tunes available today.

Estimates — see how we compute these. Memory figures assume an 8K context; long-context use needs more.