Can GLM-4 9B run on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

B69Good

Estimated from fit model

GLM-4 9B needs ~12.1 GB VRAM. NVIDIA L40S 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~123 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 12.1 GB, 126.0 tok/s, Runs well

12.1 GB required48.0 GB available

25% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

126.0 tok/s

TTFT

1537 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

12.1 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache0.6 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGLM-4 9B on NVIDIA L40S 48GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 126.0 tok/s decode · 1.5s TTFT (warm) · 315 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

No major red flags

This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	B	Runs well	126.0 tok/s	838 ms	128K
Coding	B	Runs well	122.8 tok/s	1577 ms	128K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	126.0 tok/s	2235 ms	128K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	126.0 tok/s	1816 ms	128K
RAG	B	Runs well	126.0 tok/s	2794 ms	128K

Quantization options

How GLM-4 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA L40S 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	B63
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	B63
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run GLM-4 9B on your machine.

Run

ollama run glm4

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs GLM-4 9B well

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GBBudget pick

96 GB Unified (+48)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.111 tok/s decode

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$3,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA L40S 48GB run GLM-4 9B?

Yes, NVIDIA L40S 48GB can run GLM-4 9B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 122.8 tok/s.

How much VRAM does GLM-4 9B need?

GLM-4 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 12.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for GLM-4 9B?

The recommended quantization for GLM-4 9B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will GLM-4 9B run at on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

On NVIDIA L40S 48GB, GLM-4 9B achieves approximately 122.8 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 1577ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA L40S 48GB run GLM-4 9B for coding?

For coding workloads, GLM-4 9B on NVIDIA L40S 48GB receives a B grade with 122.8 tok/s and 128K context.

What context window can GLM-4 9B use on NVIDIA L40S 48GB?

On NVIDIA L40S 48GB, GLM-4 9B can safely use up to 128K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA L40S 48GB See all hardware for GLM-4 9B

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