Can Yi 1.5 6B Chat run on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Yi 1.5 6B Chat feels slow on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB?

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

YES — With Offload

C51Usable

Estimated from fit model

Yi 1.5 6B Chat needs ~5.9 GB VRAM. RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB has 6.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~35 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

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) — 5.9 GB, 35.2 tok/s, Runs with offload

5.9 GB required6.0 GB available

98% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs with offload

Decode

35.2 tok/s

TTFT

5495 ms

Safe context

19K

Memory

5.9 GB / 6.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights3.7 GB

KV Cache0.7 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom0.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsYi 1.5 6B Chat on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB
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: 35.2 tok/s decode · 5.5s TTFT (warm) · 88 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	C	Tight fit	35.2 tok/s	2997 ms	19K
Coding	C	Runs with offload	35.2 tok/s	5495 ms	19K
Agentic Coding	D	Very compromised (needs ~0.3 GB host RAM)	21.9 tok/s	12885 ms	19K
Reasoning	C	Runs with offload	35.2 tok/s	6494 ms	19K
RAG	D	Very compromised (needs ~0.3 GB host RAM)	21.9 tok/s	16106 ms

Quantization options

How Yi 1.5 6B Chat (6B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB (6.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	2.3 GB	Low	C54
Q3_K_S	3	2.9 GB	Low	C54
NVFP4Best for your GPU

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Yi 1.5 6B Chat on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-bartowski--yi-1-5-6b-chat-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Yi 1.5 6B Chat well

RTX 3050 8GBBudget pick

8 GB VRAM (+2)224 GB/s (+32)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.33.9 tok/s decode

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

~$249 MSRP

RTX 5060 8GBBest value

8 GB VRAM (+2)448 GB/s (+256)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 112%.74.7 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 112%.

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

~$299 MSRP

RTX 5050 8GBNVIDIA upgrade

8 GB VRAM (+2)224 GB/s (+32)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 46%.51.4 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 46%.

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

~$299 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB run Yi 1.5 6B Chat?

Yes, RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB can run Yi 1.5 6B Chat with a C grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 35.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Yi 1.5 6B Chat need?

Yi 1.5 6B Chat (6B parameters) requires approximately 5.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Yi 1.5 6B Chat?

The recommended quantization for Yi 1.5 6B Chat is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Yi 1.5 6B Chat run at on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB?

On RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB, Yi 1.5 6B Chat achieves approximately 35.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5495ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB run Yi 1.5 6B Chat for coding?

For coding workloads, Yi 1.5 6B Chat on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB receives a C grade with 35.2 tok/s and 19K context.

What context window can Yi 1.5 6B Chat use on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB?

On RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB, Yi 1.5 6B Chat can safely use up to 19K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Yi 1.5 6B Chat feels slow on RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB?

See all results for RTX 4050 Laptop 6GB See all hardware for Yi 1.5 6B Chat

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