Can Mistral Small 4 119B run on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Mistral Small 4 119B feels slow on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

Add more VRAM headroom. The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.

NO — Won't Fit

F0Won't run

Estimated — low-sample bucket· few comparable runs

Mistral Small 4 119B needs ~80.5 GB but RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB only has 16.0 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: No fitBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory capacity

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) — 80.5 GB, exceeds 16.0 GB available

80.5 GB required16.0 GB available

503% VRAM needed

64.5 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

3.0 tok/s

TTFT

64258 ms

Safe context

Memory

80.5 GB / 16.0 GB

Offload

80%

Memory breakdown

Weights72.6 GB

KV Cache5.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsMistral Small 4 119B on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort:

def quicksort(arr):
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1]
print(quicksort(numbers))  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10]

The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm.

    Args:
        arr: List of integers to sort.

    Returns:
        A new sorted list.
    """
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 3.0 tok/s decode · 64.3s TTFT (warm) · 8 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

Usable VRAM is the main blocker for this model.

Not enough usable memory

The model needs 80.5 GB, but this setup only exposes 16.0 GB of usable VRAM.

Best improvement path

Add more VRAM headroom

The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	3.0 tok/s	35050 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	2.8 tok/s	69880 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	3.0 tok/s	93466 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	3.0 tok/s	75941 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	3.0 tok/s	116832 ms	4K

Quantization options

How Mistral Small 4 119B (119B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	46.4 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	58.3 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Mistral Small 4 119B well

RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition 96GBBudget pick

96 GB VRAM (+80)1792 GB/s (+1216)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.65.6 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$9,999 MSRP

RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GBBest value

96 GB VRAM (+80)1597 GB/s (+1021)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.58.5 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$9,999 MSRP

NVIDIA H20 96GBNVIDIA upgrade

96 GB VRAM (+80)4000 GB/s (+3424)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.141.2 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$12,000 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB run Mistral Small 4 119B?

No, Mistral Small 4 119B requires more memory than RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB provides.

How much VRAM does Mistral Small 4 119B need?

Mistral Small 4 119B (119B parameters) requires approximately 80.5 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Mistral Small 4 119B?

The recommended quantization for Mistral Small 4 119B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Mistral Small 4 119B run at on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

On RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB, Mistral Small 4 119B achieves approximately 2.8 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 69880ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB run Mistral Small 4 119B for coding?

For coding workloads, Mistral Small 4 119B on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB receives a F grade with 2.8 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Mistral Small 4 119B use on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

On RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB, Mistral Small 4 119B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 256K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Mistral Small 4 119B feels slow on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

See all results for RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB See all hardware for Mistral Small 4 119B

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