Can Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B run on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB?

YES — Runs Great

S88Excellent

Estimated from fit model

Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B needs ~6.2 GB VRAM. RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~53 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: 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) — 6.2 GB, 53.2 tok/s, Runs well

6.2 GB required12.0 GB available

52% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

53.2 tok/s

TTFT

3639 ms

Safe context

80K

Memory

6.2 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights2.3 GB

KV Cache1.5 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 53.2 tok/s decode · 3.6s TTFT (warm) · 133 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	S	Runs well	53.2 tok/s	1985 ms	80K
Coding	S	Runs well	53.2 tok/s	3639 ms	80K
Agentic Coding	S	Runs well	53.2 tok/s	5293 ms	80K
Reasoning	S	Runs well	53.2 tok/s	4301 ms	80K
RAG	S	Runs well	53.2 tok/s	6617 ms	80K

Quantization options

How Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B (3.799999952316284B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	1.5 GB	Low	A85
Q3_K_S	3	1.9 GB	Low	S85
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi4-mini

Your hardware

More models your RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	66 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	A	25.4 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB run Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B?

Yes, RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB can run Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B with a S grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 53.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B need?

Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B (3.799999952316284B parameters) requires approximately 6.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B?

The recommended quantization for Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B run at on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB, Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B achieves approximately 53.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3639ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB run Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB receives a S grade with 53.2 tok/s and 80K context.

What context window can Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B use on RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB, Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B can safely use up to 80K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB See all hardware for Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B

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