Best Local AI Models for NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop (16 GB VRAM)
The NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop has 16 GB of VRAM. Here are the popular AI models it can run locally (4,096-token context, ~32.0 GB system RAM assumed), ranked by popularity.
See also: Best GPU for running local LLMs.
The NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop is built on NVIDIA's Mobile architecture featuring GDDR6 delivering 512 GB/s of raw memory bandwidth. NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop with 16 GB VRAM for local language model execution.
Equipped with 16 GB of dedicated VRAM, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop can run 31 popular open-source models completely in GPU memory without offloading. This includes full-speed execution for weights like Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF, LFM2.5-2.6B-GGUF, LFM2.5-230M-GGUF. For a comprehensive breakdown of compatible model weights, see our guide to the best LLMs for 16 GB VRAM.
With a memory bandwidth of 512 GB/s, this card can generate tokens at an estimated peak rate of ~85.3 tokens/second on an 8B parameter model (Q4_K_M). Its rated power draw is 150W TDP, so ensure your system's power supply and case ventilation are adequate for sustained local inferencing.
31 fit fully in VRAM · 6 run with offload
| Model | Size | Quant. | Quality | Memory | Speed~ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unsloth/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF | 30.53B | Q3_K_M | Fair |
14.88 GB
|
29.2 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| LiquidAI/LFM2.5-2.6B-GGUF | 2.7B | BF16 | Excellent |
5.89 GB
|
79.5 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| LiquidAI/LFM2.5-230M-GGUF | 0.23B | BF16 | Excellent |
1.28 GB
|
929.9 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| unsloth/Ornith-1.0-9B-GGUF | — | Q8_K_XL | Excellent |
13.02 GB
|
33.1 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| unsloth/gpt-oss-20b-GGUF | 20.91B | F16 | Very good |
13.74 GB
|
31.1 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| LiquidAI/LFM2.5-8B-A1B-GGUF | 8.47B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
9.24 GB
|
47.7 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| unsloth/Qwen3-4B-GGUF | 4.02B | BF16 | Excellent |
8.86 GB
|
53.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| bartowski/DeepSeek-Coder-V2-Lite-Instruct-GGUF | 15.71B | Q6_K_L | Excellent |
15.03 GB
|
29.5 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| unsloth/Qwen-AgentWorld-35B-A3B-GGUF | 34.66B | IQ3_S | Fair |
14.83 GB
|
28.7 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| Qwen/Qwen3-8B-GGUF | 8.19B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
9.47 GB
|
49.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| bartowski/Kwaipilot_KAT-Coder-V2.5-Dev-GGUF | 34.66B | Q3_K_M | Fair |
15.99 GB
|
26.5 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| LiquidAI/LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct-GGUF | 1.17B | BF16 | Excellent |
3.03 GB
|
183.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| Qwen/Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct-GGUF | 3.09B | GGUF | Excellent |
7.27 GB
|
63.2 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| bartowski/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct-GGUF | 8.03B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
9.23 GB
|
50.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF | 0.75B | GGUF | Excellent |
2.64 GB
|
284.6 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| Qwen/Qwen2.5-Coder-7B-Instruct-GGUF | 7.62B | GGUF | Excellent |
15.21 GB
|
28.2 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| janhq/Jan-v3.5-4B-gguf | 4.41B | GGUF | Excellent |
9.59 GB
|
48.6 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-14B-GGUF | 14.77B | Q6_K | Excellent |
12.71 GB
|
35.4 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-1.7B-GGUF | 2.03B | GGUF | Excellent |
5.03 GB
|
105.5 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-30B-A3B-GGUF | 30.53B | Q3_K_L | Fair |
15.98 GB
|
27.0 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-32B-GGUF | 32.76B | Q2_K | Low |
13.3 GB
|
34.8 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| unsloth/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct-GGUF | 3.21B | F16 | Excellent |
7.23 GB
|
66.8 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Yi-Coder-9B-Chat-GGUF | 8.83B | Q5_K_M | Very good |
7.0 GB
|
68.6 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| Qwen/Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct-GGUF | 1.54B | GGUF | Excellent |
4.23 GB
|
120.6 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-GGUF | 0.49B | GGUF | Excellent |
2.03 GB
|
339.1 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507-GGUF | 4.02B | GGUF | Excellent |
8.86 GB
|
53.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| bartowski/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct-GGUF | 7.62B | F16 | Excellent |
15.21 GB
|
28.2 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Yi-Coder-1.5B-Chat-GGUF | 1.48B | GGUF | Excellent |
4.3 GB
|
145.4 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Meta-Llama-3-8B-Instruct-GGUF | 8.03B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
9.23 GB
|
50.3 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct-GGUF | 3.82B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
6.08 GB
|
105.8 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| MaziyarPanahi/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3-GGUF | 7.25B | GGUF | Excellent |
14.8 GB
|
29.6 t/s | Fits in VRAM |
| ggml-org/NVIDIA-Nemotron-3.5-Lightning-30B-A3B-GGUF | 31.58B | Q8_0 | Excellent |
32.1 GB
|
1.6 t/s | Offload |
| bartowski/Qwen_Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking-GGUF | 81.32B | Q4_1 | Good |
47.95 GB
|
1.1 t/s | Offload |
| unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B-GGUF | 70.55B | Q5_K_S | Very good |
47.37 GB
|
1.1 t/s | Offload |
| unsloth/Qwen3-Coder-Next-GGUF | 79.67B | Q4_1 | Very good |
47.79 GB
|
1.1 t/s | Offload |
| MaziyarPanahi/Mixtral-8x22B-v0.1-GGUF | 140.62B | IQ1_M | Very low |
32.16 GB
|
1.6 t/s | Offload |
| bartowski/Hermes-3-Llama-3.1-70B-GGUF | 70.55B | Q4_K_L | Good |
42.38 GB
|
1.2 t/s | Offload |
"Fits in VRAM" = fast, fully on GPU. "Offload" = part on system RAM, slower. Speed is a rough estimate.
Frequently asked questions
What is the VRAM and memory bandwidth of the NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop?
The NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop features 16 GB of VRAM and a memory bandwidth of 512 GB/s (GDDR6). In local language model inference, VRAM determines which model sizes fit on the card, while memory bandwidth dictates how many tokens per second the GPU generates.
What is the best local AI model to run on a NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop?
The best overall model for the NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop is unsloth/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct-GGUF using the recommended Q3_K_M quantization (14.88 GB total memory). With 16 GB of VRAM, this GPU typically runs a 14B at high quality, or a 24–27B at 4-bit at full GPU speed. Check our guide to the best LLMs for 16 GB VRAM for details.
Can the NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop run 14B and 32B models?
Yes. A 16 GB VRAM buffer allows you to run 14B models (like Qwen 2.5 14B or DeepSeek-R1 14B) in high-fidelity Q8_0 quantizations, or 32B models (like Qwen 2.5 32B) in Q3_K_M or Q4_K_M quantizations fully on the GPU.
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop Head-to-Head Comparisons
Compare specs, memory bandwidth, and AI model capability against other graphics cards.
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop vs NVIDIA RTX 4090
Side-by-side local AI performance and supported model comparison.
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop vs NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
Side-by-side local AI performance and supported model comparison.
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop vs NVIDIA RTX 5080
Side-by-side local AI performance and supported model comparison.