Best Qwen3.5 9B quant for a 16GB GPU
Short answer: Q8_0 from unsloth . Of the 11 Qwen3.5 9B files we tested that fit fully in 16GB with a 8192-token context, it has the smallest diff from the BF16 model (mean KLD 0.0025, same top token 98.4%).
- File size
- 8.87 GB
- KLD (mean)
- 0.0025
- Same top token
- 98.4%
- Tool calls
- 91.5%
- Generation
- 66 t/s full GPU
- File size
- 6.95 GB
- KLD (mean)
- 0.0043
- Same top token
- 97.5%
- Tool calls
- 92.5%
- Generation
- 82 t/s full GPU
- File size
- 3.84 GB
- KLD (mean)
- 0.2071
- Same top token
- 81.4%
- Tool calls
- 82.0%
- Generation
- 133 t/s full GPU
Other budgets: 8GB12GB24GB ยท all 11 Qwen3.5 9B quants
How we picked
We estimate VRAM need as file size + f16 KV cache for 8192 tokens + about 0.6GB of compute buffers, and keep 0.5GB free for your desktop. Among files that fit, we rank by mean KL divergence against the BF16 model's logits, then by tool-call score. If you need a longer context, step down one quant level or quantize the KV cache (-ctk q8_0 -ctv q8_0). Methodology.
GPU too small? Rent one.
Run a 32B model at Q6/Q8, or a 70B, on a cloud GPU for an hour or two instead of buying hardware.
Per-second GPU pods. RTX 4090 / 5090 / A100 / H100 for big quants or BF16 reference runs.
Link coming soonMarketplace GPUs, often the cheapest way to try a 24-48GB card for an evening.
Link coming soon