Best AMD GPU for local LLMs

Quick answers

What is the best AMD GPU for local LLMs?

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX: 24 GB of VRAM and 960 GB/s for $999 list, enough for 27B–32B-class models at Q4 (Qwen3.8-27B at an estimated 34–48 tok/s), and it is on AMD's official ROCm support list. The cheapest current GeForce with 24 GB or more is the GeForce RTX 3090 at $1,499 list.

Do AMD GPUs work for running LLMs?

Yes. llama.cpp (and tools built on it like LM Studio and Ollama) runs on AMD through ROCm/HIP or its Vulkan backend, and vLLM supports ROCm. The thing to check is ROCm support: AMD's current Linux table officially supports the RX 9000 series and the RX 7700 XT and up. Cards not on the list, like the RX 7600 and the RX 6000 series, often still work with Vulkan. Many CUDA-only tools and some newer kernels reach NVIDIA first.

Which AMD GPUs support ROCm?

From AMD's Linux system-requirements table (checked October 29, 2026): RX 9070 XT, RX 9070 GRE, RX 9070, RX 9060 XT, RX 9060 XT LP, RX 9060, RX 7900 XTX, RX 7900 XT, RX 7900 GRE, RX 7800 XT, RX 7700 XT and RX 7700, plus Radeon PRO cards. The Instinct MI50 and Radeon VII (gfx906) are marked unsupported. Anything not in the table is not officially supported.

Is the RX 9070 XT good for local LLMs?

It has 16 GB and 640 GB/s for $599 list, which runs 14B-class models comfortably (Qwen3-14B at an estimated 43–61 tok/s at Q4). If you only care about fitting models, the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB has the same 16 GB for $349 but only 320 GB/s, so it decodes about half as fast.

AMD or NVIDIA for local AI?

At 16 GB, the cheapest ROCm-supported Radeon we track is the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB at $349 list versus the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB at $429. AMD usually gives more VRAM per dollar; NVIDIA gives the widest software support (CUDA, FlashAttention, most fine-tuning tools). For chat and coding with llama.cpp-based apps, AMD works well. For training or bleeding-edge inference tools, NVIDIA is the safer pick. See NVIDIA vs AMD vs Mac.

What about the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Framework Desktop)?

It shares up to 128 GB of system memory with its built-in GPU; we count 96 GB as usable, so it fits far bigger models than any Radeon card (biggest we track at Q4: Mistral-Small-4-119B-2603). The trade-off is 256 GB/s of bandwidth, so big dense models are slow; MoE models are the sweet spot. See the best mini PC guide.