What hardware runs Qwen3 14B?
Qwen3 14B is a 14.77B-parameter dense model (apache-2.0 license). Held over from the 3.0 line because nothing in 3.5 lands between 9B and 27B. Still the solid dense mid-card pick.
All figures assume an f16 KV cache, a 0.6 GB display reserve on the GPU, and 64 GB of DDR5 system RAM for the offload tiers. Tune these in the calculator.
Minimum VRAM by quant and context
| Quant | File size | 8K | 16K | 32K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K * | 5.4 GB | 8.5 GB | 9.8 GB | 12.4 GB |
| Q3_K_M * | 6.8 GB | 9.9 GB | 11.2 GB | 13.9 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 8.4 GB | 11.5 GB | 12.8 GB | 15.4 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 9.8 GB | 12.9 GB | 14.2 GB | 16.8 GB |
| Q6_K | 11.3 GB | 14.4 GB | 15.7 GB | 18.3 GB |
| Q8_0 | 14.6 GB | 17.7 GB | 19 GB | 21.7 GB |
| IQ4_XS | 7.6 GB | 10.7 GB | 12 GB | 14.6 GB |
Full-GPU figures: weights + f16 KV cache + overhead. * below our recommended floor of Q4_K_M.
GPU compatibility
Fits on GPUExpert offloadPartial offloadCPU only
Quant guidance
Our floor for Qwen3 14B is Q4_K_M — below that, quality degrades faster than the VRAM savings are worth. Prefer the highest quant that still lands "Fits on GPU" at your context length in the table above.
Recommended run command
Q4_K_M at 32K on a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080-class GPU (Fits on GPU):
llama-server -m Qwen3-14B-Q4_K_M.gguf -c 32768 --flash-attn -ngl 99
Frequently asked questions
How much VRAM does Qwen3 14B need?
At Q4_K_M and 32K context, Qwen3 14B needs about 15.4 GB of VRAM to run fully on GPU (weights + KV cache + overhead).
What is the smallest GPU that can run Qwen3 14B?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (16 GB) is the smallest GPU in our set that runs Qwen3 14B well at 32K context.
What quantization should I use for Qwen3 14B?
We recommend Q4_K_M or higher. Q4_K_M weighs 8.4 GB (4.88 bits/weight); going below Q4_K_M costs noticeable quality on a model this size.
How long a context can Qwen3 14B handle?
Qwen3 14B supports up to 40K tokens. KV cache grows linearly with context.
Can I run Qwen3 14B without a GPU?
Yes, at reduced speed: on CPU with 64 GB of DDR5 it manages roughly 3 tokens/sec at 8K context (Q8_0).