llmrun

AMD · RDNA 3

Best AI Models for AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB)

Runs 27–31B models well; 35B MoE only just fits.

20 GB GDDR6800 GB/s103 TFLOPS FP16315 WRDNA 3 2022
Buyabout $899

What LLMs can the RX 7900 XT run?

#ModelSpeedllmrun ScoreQuant · VRAM
1
Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 27.6 t/s
27.6 tok/sQ4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2
Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 27.6 t/s
27.6 tok/sQ4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3
Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 85.3 t/s
85.3 tok/sQ4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4
Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB · 98.1 t/s
98.1 tok/sQ4_K_M · 13.1 GB
5
Q4_K_M · 15.0 GB · 89.5 t/s
89.5 tok/sQ4_K_M · 15.0 GB
See all 318 models on the RX 7900 XT →Best quant that fits · speeds estimated on this card

About the RX 7900 XT

The RX 7900 XT is a solid mid-range card in the 16–20 GB class: it runs 27–31B models well. It is more efficient per watt than most 16–20 GB cards, and at its $899 MSRP it gave the best speed per dollar of the cards compared. RDNA 3 generation, released 2022.

Speed in 16–20 GB#3800 GB/s
Per watt#60.24 tok/s per W on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)
Per dollar#18.4 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B (9B params)
GenerationRDNA 3released 2022

RX 7900 XT strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 74.5 tok/s in 19.8 GB

Weaknesses

  • 70B models don't fit: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4 vs 20 GB here
  • Slow prompt reading: A 4K-token prompt on Qwen3.8 27B waits 10.0 s for the first token
  • ROCm, not CUDA: No FP8 weights; MXFP4 only through llama.cpp, not vLLM

Speed per dollar and per watt

On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params) at Q4_K_M. New prices are compared with new, used with used. The last two columns are the speed you get per $100 of price and per 100 W of board power; higher is better. The RX 7900 XT has no current price, so it is shown at its MSRP.

CardNew pricetok/stok/s per $100tok/s per 100 W
about $89975.5
8.4
24.0
about $84068.7
8.2
27.5
about $1,13090.6
8.0
25.5
RTX 5070 Ti16 GBBest new value
about $1,17091.6
7.8
30.5
RX 907016 GB
about $80060.4
7.6
27.5
about $81560.4
7.4
19.9
about $1,69098.1
5.8
27.3
about $5,376183
3.4
31.8
CardUsed pricetok/stok/s per $100tok/s per 100 W
RTX 3060 12GB12 GBBest used value
about $32936.8
11.2
21.6
about $1,00090.6
9.1
25.5
about $1,10091.6
8.3
30.5
about $90068.7
7.6
24.1
about $1,10073.3
6.7
22.9
about $1,15575.2
6.5
23.5
about $1,50095.7
6.4
27.3
about $6,400183
2.9
31.8

Cost per token: the RX 7900 XT against 12–32 GB cards

On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params, Q4_K_M, 4K context). Speed, cost per token and power per token depend on the model.

12 GB16 GB24 GB32 GBthis cardat MSRP
Cost per 1M output tokenson Qwen3.5 9B · card over 3 years + power
$0.93
Card, MSRP
$0.76
Power
$0.17
3-year cost of ownership$1,106
Or rent an RTX 3090 in the cloud$0.14/hr

Renting costs as much as buying after ≈6,300 hours (≈4.3 years at 4 h a day).

Include card price

Each dot is a card; hover or tap it for its numbers, click to open it. Cards without a price for the chosen basis are left out. How we calculate cost per token

Similar GPUs

Cards people weigh against the RX 7900 XT, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.

RX 7900 XT tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (800 GB/s). Grey rows need more than 20 GB.

  1. 9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
    75.5tok/s
  2. 14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB
    50.5tok/s
  3. 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
    27.6tok/s
  4. 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · IQ4_XS · 19.8 GB tight · IQ4_XS
    74.5tok/s
  5. 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bit
    needs 51.3 GB
  6. 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bit
    needs 70.8 GB

Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate

All 1117 models on the RX 7900 XT

Featured only

Best quant that fits, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works

LLM models compatible with AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
ModelVRAMScoreFit
BF16·29.2 t/s
17.2 GBB62, Decent
Q4_K_M·89.1 t/s
6.2 GBS89, Runs great
C4ai Command R7b 12 2024
Q4_K_M·90.6 t/s
7.9 GBS90, Runs great
Q4_K_M·78.7 t/s
7.3 GBS87, Runs great
Tiny LLM
Q4_K_M·1548.4 t/s
0.3 GBS100, Runs great
Sarvam 30B
Q4_K_M·104.7 t/s
19.9 GBC44, Usable
BF16·76.3 t/s
7.1 GBS87, Runs great
Q4_K_M·320.0 t/s
1.7 GBS100, Runs great
Qwen2.5 1.5B Instruct
Q4_K_M·375.0 t/s
1.7 GBS100, Runs great
Q4_K_M·475.2 t/s
1.0 GBS100, Runs great
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct
Q4_K_M·585.4 t/s
2.3 GBS100, Runs great
Q4_K_M·335.7 t/s
1.8 GBS100, Runs great
BF16·461.5 t/s
1.2 GBS100, Runs great
BF16·24000.0 t/s
0.4 GBS100, Runs great
Typhoon Ocr1.5 2B
Q4_K_M·265.2 t/s
3.5 GBS100, Runs great

RX 7900 XT specs, power and PSU

Specs

Architecture
RDNA 3
VRAM
20 GB GDDR6
Memory bandwidth
800.0 GB/s
FP16 (dense)
103.20 TFLOPS
Stream processors
5,376
TDP
315 W
Released
2022-12-13
MSRP
$899

RX 7900 XT FAQ

Is the RX 7900 XT still worth it in 2026?

At its MSRP of $899 you get 8.4 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B, which ranks 1st of the 8 cards compared here; it is also the 3rd fastest out of 18 cards with 16–20 GB. It runs 27–31B models well; 35B MoE only just fits.

What is the largest model the RX 7900 XT can run?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B (36.0B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at IQ4_XS it uses 19.8 GB of 20 GB, and runs at about 74.5 tok/s.

Can the RX 7900 XT run Qwen3.8 27B?

Yes. Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q4_K_M, using 17.9 GB of 20 GB, and it is the best model that runs well on this card.

Can the RX 7900 XT run 70B models?

No. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 20 GB on this card.

How many tokens per second does the RX 7900 XT give?

About 27.6 tok/s on Qwen3.8 27B at Q4_K_M, with the first token after 10.0 s on a 4K-token prompt.

What power supply does the RX 7900 XT need?

Plan a 650 W PSU (2× the 315 W TDP).

Is 20 GB enough for coding and agents?

Yes for coding: Qwen3.8 27B, the best of the 6 coding models that fit, runs at about 28 tok/s. For agents, not yet: no agent-scored model fits in less than 96 GB.

Is renting cheaper than buying an RX 7900 XT?

An RTX 3090 (24 GB) rents from $0.14/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈6,300 hours (≈4.3 years at 4 h a day).