Can Qwen 3 1.7B run on NVIDIA L20 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

B61Good

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 3 1.7B needs ~8.4 GB VRAM. NVIDIA L20 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~26 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: 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) — 8.4 GB, 25.5 tok/s, Runs well

8.4 GB required48.0 GB available

18% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

25.5 tok/s

TTFT

7592 ms

Safe context

33K

Memory

8.4 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.0 GB

KV Cache1.7 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsQwen 3 1.7B on NVIDIA L20 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: 25.5 tok/s decode · 7.6s TTFT (warm) · 64 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	25.5 tok/s	4141 ms	33K
Coding	B	Runs well	25.5 tok/s	7592 ms	33K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	25.5 tok/s	11043 ms	33K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	25.5 tok/s	8973 ms	33K
RAG	B	Runs well	25.5 tok/s	13804 ms	33K

Quantization options

How Qwen 3 1.7B (1.7000000476837158B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA L20 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	0.7 GB	Low	B61
Q3_K_S	3	0.8 GB	Low	B61
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 3 1.7B on your machine.

Run

ollama run qwen3:1.7b

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Qwen 3 1.7B well

MacBook Pro M4 Max 96GBBudget pick

96 GB Unified (+48)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.23.8 tok/s decode

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

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GBBest value

128 GB Unified (+80)

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.23.8 tok/s decode

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

~$2,499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA L20 48GB run Qwen 3 1.7B?

Yes, NVIDIA L20 48GB can run Qwen 3 1.7B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 25.5 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 3 1.7B need?

Qwen 3 1.7B (1.7000000476837158B parameters) requires approximately 8.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 3 1.7B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen 3 1.7B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Qwen 3 1.7B run at on NVIDIA L20 48GB?

On NVIDIA L20 48GB, Qwen 3 1.7B achieves approximately 25.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 7592ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA L20 48GB run Qwen 3 1.7B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 3 1.7B on NVIDIA L20 48GB receives a B grade with 25.5 tok/s and 33K context.

What context window can Qwen 3 1.7B use on NVIDIA L20 48GB?

On NVIDIA L20 48GB, Qwen 3 1.7B can safely use up to 33K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for NVIDIA L20 48GB See all hardware for Qwen 3 1.7B

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<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/qwen-3-1.7b-on-l20-48gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

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