Qwen3.5 9B hardware requirements

About the model

Parameters
9.65B
Attention
Hybrid linear attention
Max context
262,144 tokens
Released
2026-05-01

GGUF files

Tracked quantizations of Qwen3.5 9B, smallest first
QuantFile sizeQualityPublished by
IQ4_XS5.47 GBGood balanceCommunity GGUF · unsloth
Q4_K_Mbaseline5.87 GBGood balanceCommunity GGUF · unsloth
Q8_09.79 GBNear-losslessCommunity GGUF · unsloth

Some repositories publish only Unsloth Dynamic (UD) variants; sizes are those of the file you would download.

Memory needed by quant and context

Weights + f16 KV cache + compute buffer, in GB. Add about 0.6 GB if the GPU also drives your display on Windows.
Quant4k8k16k32k64k128k256k
IQ4_XS6.16.36.77.38.711.517.0
Q4_K_M6.56.77.17.79.111.917.4
Q8_010.510.611.011.713.015.821.3

Which GPUs can run Qwen3.5 9B?

How to read the verdicts

Runs great
Fully on the GPU at 20 tok/s or more
Runs well
Fully on the GPU at 8–20 tok/s; MoE experts in system RAM at 20 tok/s or more; or at least 90% on the GPU at 8 tok/s or more
Runs slowly
2–8 tok/s; CPU-only; less than 90% on the GPU; or MoE experts in system RAM below 20 tok/s
Won't run
Does not fit, or under 2 tok/s

Scroll sideways to see every column.

54 GPUs, Macs and CPU setups at Q4_K_M with 8k context, sorted by verdict and speed
HardwareVerdictSpeedQuantMemoryRuns asContextNotesPrice
GeForce RTX 5090
Runs great
est. 204.4 tok/s179.8–228.9calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 32.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$4,200 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Runs great
est. 122.0 tok/s107.3–136.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
Runs great
est. 114.9 tok/s101.2–128.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$1,999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4090
Runs great
est. 114.9 tok/s101.2–128.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$2,755 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5080
Runs great
est. 109.5 tok/s96.3–122.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$1,256 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3090
Runs great
est. 106.7 tok/s93.9–119.5calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$1,050 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3080 12GB
Runs great
est. 104.0 tok/s91.5–116.5calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$799 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
Runs great
est. 102.2 tok/s89.9–114.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$949 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop
Runs great
est. 102.2 tok/s89.9–114.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k——
GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop
Runs great
est. 102.2 tok/s89.9–114.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k——
Radeon RX 7900 XT
Runs great
est. 101.7 tok/s89.5–113.9calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 20.0 GBFull GPUup to 256k—$899 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 3080 10GB
Runs great
est. 86.7 tok/s76.3–97.1calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 10.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$699 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4080 Super
Runs great
est. 83.9 tok/s73.9–94.0calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$999 launch MSRP
Radeon RX 9070
Runs great
est. 82.0 tok/s72.1–91.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$639 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 9070 XT
Runs great
est. 82.0 tok/s72.1–91.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$689 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 4080
Runs great
est. 81.8 tok/s72.0–91.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$1,199 launch MSRP
Radeon RX 7800 XT
Runs great
est. 79.3 tok/s69.8–88.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$499 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super
Runs great
est. 76.6 tok/s67.4–85.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$799 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5070
Runs great
est. 76.6 tok/s67.4–85.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$629 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop
Runs great
est. 76.6 tok/s67.4–85.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k——
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Runs great
est. 70.2 tok/s61.8–78.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 11.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop
Runs great
est. 65.7 tok/s57.8–73.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k——
Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB
Runs great
est. 60.0 tok/s48.0–72.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 33.6 GBUnified memoryup to 256k——
Apple M3 Ultra · 96 GB
Runs great
est. 58.7 tok/s47.0–70.4calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 67.2 GBUnified memoryup to 256k——
GeForce RTX 4070
Runs great
est. 57.5 tok/s50.6–64.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$599 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4070 Super
Runs great
est. 57.5 tok/s50.6–64.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$599 launch MSRP
Apple M2 Ultra · 64 GB
Runs great
est. 57.3 tok/s45.9–68.8calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 44.8 GBUnified memoryup to 256k——
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Runs great
est. 55.2 tok/s38.6–71.8theoretical estimate ±30%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 11.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$699 launch MSRP
Apple M4 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB
Runs great
est. 53.4 tok/s42.7–64.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 33.6 GBUnified memoryup to 256k——
GeForce RTX 3070
Runs great
est. 51.1 tok/s45.0–57.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$499 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5060
Runs great
est. 51.1 tok/s45.0–57.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$339 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
Runs great
est. 51.1 tok/s45.0–57.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$569 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
Runs great
est. 51.1 tok/s45.0–57.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$429 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop
Runs great
est. 49.3 tok/s43.4–55.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k——
Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB
Runs great
est. 45.0 tok/s36.0–54.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 25.2 GBUnified memoryup to 128k——
Intel Arc B580
Runs great
est. 43.8 tok/s35.1–52.6calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$290 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Runs great
est. 41.1 tok/s36.1–46.0calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$250 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
Runs great
est. 40.9 tok/s36.0–45.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 128k—$449 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Apple M4 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB
Runs great
est. 40.1 tok/s32.1–48.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 25.2 GBUnified memoryup to 128k——
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB
Runs great
est. 32.8 tok/s28.9–36.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$499 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB
Runs great
est. 32.8 tok/s28.9–36.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$399 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4060
Runs great
est. 31.0 tok/s27.3–34.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$299 launch MSRP
Apple M5 Pro · 24 GB
Runs great
est. 30.0 tok/s24.0–36.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 16.8 GBUnified memoryup to 64k——
GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
Runs great
est. 29.2 tok/s25.7–32.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k——
GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop
Runs great
est. 29.2 tok/s25.7–32.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k——
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) · 32 GB
Runs great
est. 27.1 tok/s21.7–32.5calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 22.4 GBUnified memoryup to 64k—$1,999 launch MSRP
Apple M4 Pro · 24 GB
Runs great
est. 26.7 tok/s21.3–32.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 16.8 GBUnified memoryup to 64k——
GeForce RTX 3050 8GB
Runs great
est. 25.5 tok/s22.5–28.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M7.3 / 8.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$249 launch MSRP
NVIDIA DGX Spark · 128 GB
Runs well
est. 17.8 tok/s14.2–21.3calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 89.6 GBUnified memoryup to 128k—$3,999 launch MSRP
Apple M5 · 16 GB
Runs well
est. 15.0 tok/s12.0–18.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 11.2 GBUnified memoryup to 64k——
Apple M4 · 16 GB
Runs well
est. 11.7 tok/s9.4–14.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.7 / 11.2 GBUnified memoryup to 64k——
DDR5-6000 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 7.8 tok/s6.3–9.4calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.1 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 128k——
DDR5-5600 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 7.3 tok/s5.8–8.8calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.1 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 128k——
DDR4-3200 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 4.2 tok/s3.3–5.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M6.1 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 128k——

Cheapest GPUs that run it

  • Runs greatGeForce RTX 3060 12GB$250 street (as of 2026-08-09), est. 41.1 tok/s (36.1–46.0, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Measured results for Qwen3.5 9B

No public measurements for this model yet.

Frequently asked questions

How much VRAM does Qwen3.5 9B need?

At Q4_K_M the weights are 5.87 GB; with 8k context the total is about 6.7 GB (KV cache 0.3 GB, compute buffer 0.6 GB). The smallest tracked file (IQ4_XS) needs about 6.3 GB.

What is the cheapest GPU that runs Qwen3.5 9B well?

Cheapest that runs it great: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at $250 (street price as of 2026-08-09), est. 41.1 tok/s (36.1–46.0, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Can Qwen3.5 9B run on an 8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB GPU?

At Q4_K_M with 8k context: GeForce RTX 4060 — Runs great, est. 31.0 tok/s (27.3–34.7, calibrated estimate ±12%); GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB — Runs great, est. 51.1 tok/s (45.0–57.2, calibrated estimate ±12%); GeForce RTX 3090 — Runs great, est. 106.7 tok/s (93.9–119.5, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Speeds are estimates from memory bandwidth, calibrated against public benchmarks, and each one comes with an error band and a confidence label. Real results vary with drivers, backend, context length and thermals.