How much VRAM does Qwen3.5 9B need?

Qwen3.5 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 9.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen3.5 9B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen3.5 9B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

Can it run?

Can GTX 1080 Ti 11GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Q: Can GTX 1080 Ti 11GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Yes, GTX 1080 Ti 11GB can run Qwen3.5 9B with a C grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 63.5 tok/s.

CUsable

Tight fit

Using Q4_K_M in Ollama

Capabilities:

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

63.5 tok/s

TTFT

3050 ms

Safe context

19K

Memory

9.2 GB / 11.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache1.4 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.1 GB

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Agentic Coding	C	Runs with offload	52.0 tok/s	5414 ms	33K
Chat	B	Runs well	52.0 tok/s	2030 ms	10K
Coding	C	Tight fit	63.5 tok/s	3050 ms	19K
RAG	C	Runs with offload	52.0 tok/s	6767 ms	33K
Reasoning	C	Tight fit	52.0 tok/s	4399 ms	19K

Quantization options

How Qwen3.5 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB (11.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	D36
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	D38
NVFP4	4

Get started

HuggingFace

huggingface-cli download hf-lmstudio-community--qwen3-5-9b-gguf

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Qwen3.5 9B well

Intel Arc B580 12GBBudget pick

C39.9 tok/s decode

~$249 MSRP

RTX 3060 12GBBest value

C43.3 tok/s decode

~$329 MSRP

RTX 3080 12GBBiggest leap

B126.3 tok/s decode

~$799 MSRP

RTX 3080 Ti 12GBNVIDIA upgrade

B122.9 tok/s decode

~$1,199 MSRP

See all results for GTX 1080 Ti 11GB See all hardware for Qwen3.5 9B