Can Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B run on RTX A4500 20GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B feels slow on RTX A4500 20GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

YES — With Q3_K_S

B66Good

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B needs ~22.8 GB VRAM. RTX A4500 20GB has 20.0 GB. With Q3_K_S quantization, expect ~18 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: MediumStack: BasicBottleneck: Host offload

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.

Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B at Q4_K_M needs 26.6 GB — too much for RTX A4500 20GB (20.0 GB). Runs at Q3_K_S (22.8 GB) with low quality. 2 quantization levels fit.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 26.6 GB, exceeds 20.0 GB available

26.6 GB required20.0 GB available

133% VRAM needed

6.6 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

11.3 tok/s

TTFT

17070 ms

Safe context

Memory

26.6 GB / 20.0 GB

Offload

20%

Memory breakdown

Weights19.5 GB

KV Cache3.9 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom2.0 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsQwen 2.5 Coder 32B on RTX A4500 20GB
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: 11.3 tok/s decode · 17.1s TTFT (warm) · 28 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

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

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

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

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 1.9 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	13.3 tok/s	7931 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	10.5 tok/s	18436 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	8.5 tok/s	33121 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	11.3 tok/s	20174 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	8.5 tok/s	41402 ms	4K

Quantization options

How Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (32B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX A4500 20GB (20.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_KBest for your GPU	2	12.5 GB	Low	A78
Q3_K_S	3	15.7 GB	Low	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B on your machine.

Run

ollama run qwen2.5-coder

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B well

RTX 3090 24GBBest value

24 GB VRAM (+4)936 GB/s (+296)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.21.2 tok/s decode

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

Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.

~$1,499 MSRP

RTX 5090 32GBBudget pick

32 GB VRAM (+12)1792 GB/s (+1152)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.66.4 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.

~$1,999 MSRP

RTX A5500 24GBNVIDIA upgrade

24 GB VRAM (+4)768 GB/s (+128)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.19.4 tok/s decode

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

Raises estimated decode speed by about 72%.

~$3,200 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX A4500 20GB run Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B?

Yes, RTX A4500 20GB can run Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B at Q3_K_S quantization (Very compromised (needs ~1.9 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 26.6 GB which exceeds available memory, but at Q3_K_S it needs only 22.8 GB. Expected decode speed: 18.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B need?

Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (32B parameters) requires approximately 26.6 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On RTX A4500 20GB, it fits at Q3_K_S using 22.8 GB.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B?

The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on RTX A4500 20GB the best fitting quantization is Q3_K_S, which uses 22.8 GB.

What speed will Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B run at on RTX A4500 20GB?

On RTX A4500 20GB, Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B achieves approximately 18.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 10623ms using Q3_K_S quantization.

Can RTX A4500 20GB run Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B on RTX A4500 20GB receives a F grade with 10.5 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B use on RTX A4500 20GB?

On RTX A4500 20GB, Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B can safely use up to 5K tokens of context at Q3_K_S quantization. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX A4500 20GB See all hardware for Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B

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