Hardware requirements

What hardware do I need to run Phi-4 14B?

14.7B 16K context MIT

At Q4_K_M the weights are 8.3 GB; with an 8K KV cache and runtime overhead that is 10.4 GB, so it wants a 16 GB card to run with headroom — in practice 16 GB VRAM: GeForce RTX 5080 and 17 others. Every figure below is computed from the model’s published shape against each device’s usable memory; tokens per second are estimates. The method.

Minimum practical 11 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 2080 Ti — Q3_K_M, 8.9 GB of 9.7 GB, ~56 tok/s, up to 12K context.

the smallest card that holds it at all, at Q3_K_M — the lowest quantisation worth running
Recommended 16 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 5080 — Q4_K_M, 10.4 GB of 14.4 GB, ~70 tok/s, up to 16K context.

runs the recommended quantisation with headroom at 8K context
High quality 24 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 4090 — Q8_0, 16.7 GB of 22.4 GB, ~42 tok/s, up to 16K context.

near-lossless Q8_0 with headroom
Long context 16 GB VRAM

GeForce RTX 5080 — Q4_K_M, 12.0 GB of 14.4 GB, ~70 tok/s at 16K.

128K tokens (or the model’s maximum) at the recommended quantisation
Apple Silicon 24 GB unified

M2 · 24 GB — Q4_K_M, 10.4 GB of 18.0 GB, ~6.8 tok/s, up to 16K context.

smallest Mac that runs the recommended quantisation with headroom
CPU only 32 GB RAM

CPU only · DDR4 dual-channel — Q8_0, 16.7 GB of 25.6 GB, ~1.5 tok/s, up to 16K context.

no GPU — weights stream from system RAM

How much VRAM at each quantisation

QuantWeights+KV 8K+KV 32K+KV 128KTotal @ 8KNeedsQuality
F1627.4 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 29.5 GB40 GB cardReference
Q8_014.5 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 16.7 GB24 GB card−0.1% ppl
Q6_K11.2 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 13.4 GB20 GB card−0.4% ppl
Q5_K_M9.7 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 11.9 GB16 GB card−0.8% ppl
Q4_K_M8.3 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 10.4 GB16 GB card−1.9% ppl
Q3_K_M6.7 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 8.9 GB12 GB card−5.4% ppl
Q2_K5.7 GB1.56 GB3.13 GB3.1 GB 7.9 GB11 GB card−15% ppl

Totals add 0.6 GB runtime overhead and an f16 KV cache; "needs" is the smallest discrete card class whose usable memory (after display and driver reserve) leaves 15% headroom. A q8_0 cache roughly halves the KV columns.

Every device, checked

System RAM for offload:

NVIDIA · GeForce

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
GeForce RTX 5090 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 131 yes Check
GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 70 yes Check
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 66 yes Check
GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 49 no Check
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 33 yes Check
GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB offload ~15 no Check
GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 74 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4080 Super 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 54 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 53 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 49 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 37 no Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 37 no Check
GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 37 no Check
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 21 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB offload ~13 no Check
GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB offload ~12 no Check
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 74 yes Check
GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 69 yes Check
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 67 no Check
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 67 no Check
GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB offload ~63 no Check
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8 GB offload ~16 no Check
GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB offload ~15 no Check
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB offload ~15 no Check
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 26 no Check
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Q3_K_M no Check
GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 25 no Check
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB Q3_K_M no Check

NVIDIA · GeForce laptop

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 66 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 42 yes Check
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 32 no Check
GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop 8 GB offload ~12 no Check

NVIDIA · Workstation

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 70 yes Check
RTX 5000 Ada 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 42 yes Check
RTX 4000 Ada 20 GB Q6_K Q8_0 16K 26 yes Check
RTX 2000 Ada 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 16 yes Check
RTX A6000 48 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 56 yes Check
RTX A5000 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 56 yes Check
RTX A4000 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 33 yes Check

NVIDIA · Data centre

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
L40S 48 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 63 yes Check
L4 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 22 yes Check
A10 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 44 yes Check
A100 40 GB 40 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 114 yes Check
A100 80 GB 80 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 149 yes Check
H100 PCIe 80 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 146 yes Check
H100 SXM 80 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 245 yes Check
H200 SXM 141 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 352 yes Check
Tesla P40 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 25 yes Check

AMD · Radeon

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 47 yes Check
Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 47 yes Check
Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 70 yes Check
Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Q6_K Q8_0 16K 59 yes Check
Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 42 yes Check
Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 46 yes Check
Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 32 no Check
Radeon RX 7600 XT 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 21 yes Check
Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 37 yes Check
Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 37 yes Check
Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 28 no Check

AMD · Radeon Pro

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
Radeon Pro W7900 48 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 63 yes Check
Radeon Pro W7800 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 42 yes Check

AMD · Instinct

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
Instinct MI210 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 120 yes Check
Instinct MI300X 192 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 388 yes Check

AMD · Ryzen AI Max

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 · 128 GB 128 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 17 yes Check
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 · 64 GB 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 17 yes Check

Apple · Apple Silicon

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
M1 · 16 GB 16 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 9K 4.6 no Check
M1 Pro · 32 GB 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 14 yes Check
M1 Max · 64 GB 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 27 yes Check
M1 Ultra · 128 GB 128 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 54 yes Check
M2 · 24 GB 24 GB Q6_K Q8_0 16K 6.8 yes Check
M2 Pro · 32 GB 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 14 yes Check
M2 Max · 96 GB 96 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 27 yes Check
M2 Ultra · 192 GB 192 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 54 yes Check
M3 · 24 GB 24 GB Q6_K Q8_0 16K 6.8 yes Check
M3 Pro · 36 GB 36 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 10 yes Check
M3 Max · 64 GB 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 27 yes Check
M3 Max · 128 GB 128 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 27 yes Check
M3 Ultra · 256 GB 256 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 54 yes Check
M3 Ultra · 512 GB 512 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 54 yes Check
M4 · 32 GB 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 8.1 yes Check
M4 Pro · 48 GB 48 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 18 yes Check
M4 Pro · 64 GB 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 18 yes Check
M4 Max · 64 GB 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 28 yes Check
M4 Max · 128 GB 128 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 37 yes Check

Intel · Arc

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
Arc B580 12 GB Q3_K_M Q4_K_M 8K 33 no Check
Arc B570 10 GB offload ~33 no Check
Arc A770 16 GB 16 GB Q5_K_M Q6_K 16K 41 yes Check
Arc A750 8 GB offload ~15 no Check

CPU · CPU + system RAM

DeviceMemoryBest quant with headroomFits at allMax context @ Q4_K_MTok/s est.128K
CPU only · DDR4 dual-channel 32 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 2.6 yes Check
CPU only · DDR5 dual-channel 64 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 4.6 yes Check
CPU only · DDR5 8-channel server 256 GB Q8_0 Q8_0 16K 16 yes Check