Best GPU for local AI

Which AI models can the Instinct MI300X run?

The Instinct MI300X has 192 GB of graphics memory, read at 5,300 GB/s. In a workstation with 256 GB of DDR5-6400 in eight channels, 73 of the 88 open models here run entirely on the card, 73 of them writing faster than you read; the most capable it runs well is Mistral Medium 3.5 128B at Q8_0, 11–18 tokens/s. 13 more run with part of the model in system memory, more slowly.

Every figure is for an 8,192-token conversation (about 6,000 words), at the best compression that fits. Try it in the calculator with your own memory, conversation length and compression, or a second card. For image and video models, see Stable Diffusion, FLUX and Wan on the Instinct MI300X.

Models that run entirely on the card

The fastest way to run a model: all of it in graphics memory. Most people read at 5 to 8 tokens a second, so anything above 10 feels quick.

Models the Instinct MI300X runs entirely on the card
ModelCompressionWritesNeeds
Llama 3.1 405BQ2_K10–16 tokens/s156 GB
GLM-4.7 355B-A32BQ3_K_M70–110 tokens/s178 GB
GLM-5.3 Flash 320B-A18BQ3_K_M110–175 tokens/s157 GB
MiMo V2.6 Flash 309B-A15BQ4_K_M110–175 tokens/s188 GB
Hy3 295B-A21BQ4_K_M81–130 tokens/s182 GB
Inkling Small 276B-A12BQ4_K_M125–195 tokens/s168 GB
Qwen3 235B-A22B 2507Q5_K_M73–115 tokens/s168 GB
MiniMax M2.7 230B-A10BQ6_K110–170 tokens/s190 GB
Step 3.5 FlashQ6_K105–170 tokens/s162 GB
Qwen3.8 Flash NextQ6_K150–240 tokens/s148 GB
Mistral Medium 3.5 128BQ8_011–18 tokens/s139 GB
Qwen3.5 122B-A10BQ8_098–155 tokens/s133 GB
Nemotron 3.5 Super 120B-A12BQ8_087–140 tokens/s132 GB
Mistral Small 4 119BQ8_0125–205 tokens/s127 GB
gpt-oss 120BMXFP4190–300 tokens/s64 GB
GLM-4.5 Air 106B-A12BQ8_084–135 tokens/s119 GB
Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17BQ8_065–105 tokens/s117 GB
Qwen3 Coder Next 80B-A3BQ8_0180–290 tokens/s85 GB
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9BQ8_0105–170 tokens/s80 GB
Qwen2.5 72BQ8_020–32 tokens/s80 GB
Llama 3.3 70BQ8_020–33 tokens/s78 GB
Flint 40B-A2.5BQ8_0190–305 tokens/s43 GB
Qwen3.6 35B-A3BQ8_0180–290 tokens/s38 GB
Qwen3 32BQ8_043–68 tokens/s37 GB
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3BQ8_0180–290 tokens/s34 GB
Gemma 4 31BQ8_045–72 tokens/s34 GB
GLM-4.7 FlashQ8_0180–285 tokens/s34 GB
Qwen3 30B-A3B 2507Q8_0170–270 tokens/s33 GB
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3BQ8_0170–270 tokens/s33 GB
Muse Glimmer 30BQ8_048–77 tokens/s32 GB
Granite 4.2 30BQ8_048–76 tokens/s33 GB
Qwen3.6 27BQ8_051–82 tokens/s30 GB
Qwen3.8 27BQ8_051–82 tokens/s30 GB
Gemma 3 27BQ8_051–82 tokens/s30 GB
Gemma 4 26B-A4BQ8_0160–260 tokens/s28 GB
Mistral Small 3.2 24BQ8_058–93 tokens/s27 GB
Devstral Small 2 24BQ8_058–93 tokens/s27 GB
LFM2.5 24B-A2BQ8_0195–310 tokens/s26 GB
gpt-oss 20BMXFP4205–330 tokens/s12 GB
Qwen3 14BQ8_090–145 tokens/s17 GB
Phi-4Q8_090–145 tokens/s17 GB
Ministral 3 14BQ8_095–150 tokens/s16 GB
Gemma 3 12BQ8_0105–170 tokens/s14 GB
Gemma 4 12BQ8_0110–175 tokens/s13 GB
Qwen3.5 9BQ8_0135–220 tokens/s11 GB
Ornith 1.5 9BQ8_0135–220 tokens/s11 GB
Ministral 3 8BQ8_0140–225 tokens/s11 GB
Granite 4.2 8BQ8_0140–225 tokens/s11 GB
Qwen3 8BQ8_0150–240 tokens/s9.9 GB
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8BQ8_0150–240 tokens/s9.9 GB
Llama 3.1 8BQ8_0155–245 tokens/s9.6 GB
Gemma 4 E4BQ8_0260–415 tokens/s8.7 GB
Qwen2.5 7BQ8_0165–265 tokens/s8.6 GB
Mistral 7B v0.3Q8_0165–265 tokens/s8.8 GB
Gemma 4 E2BQ8_0425–680 tokens/s5.5 GB
Qwen3.5 4BQ8_0250–400 tokens/s5.2 GB
Gemma 3 4BQ8_0265–420 tokens/s4.9 GB
Qwen3 4B 2507Q8_0260–415 tokens/s5.5 GB
Ministral 3 3BQ8_0275–440 tokens/s5.0 GB
Phi-4-miniQ8_0270–430 tokens/s5.2 GB
Granite 4.2 3BQ8_0290–465 tokens/s4.6 GB
Llama 3.2 3BQ8_0310–495 tokens/s4.4 GB
SmolLM3 3BQ8_0330–525 tokens/s3.9 GB
Qwen3.5 2BQ8_0425–680 tokens/s2.5 GB
Qwen3 1.7BQ8_0410–655 tokens/s3.1 GB
LFM3 1.7BQ8_0505–805 tokens/s1.9 GB
Llama 3.2 1BQ8_0585–935 tokens/s1.6 GB
Gemma 3 1BQ8_0675–1075 tokens/s1.1 GB
Qwen3.5 0.8BQ8_0710–1130 tokens/s1.0 GB
Qwen3 0.6BQ8_0625–1000 tokens/s1.7 GB
SmolLM2 360MQ8_0875–1395 tokens/s0.7 GB
LFM2.5 350MQ8_0940–1500 tokens/s0.5 GB
Gemma 3 270MQ8_01005–1610 tokens/s0.3 GB

With help from system memory

In a workstation with 256 GB of DDR5-6400 in eight channels, these fit with part of the model in system memory. The processor reads that part several times more slowly, so they write more slowly the more of them is off the card.

Models the Instinct MI300X runs with part in system memory
ModelOn the cardWritesNeeds
DeepSeek V4 Pro60%11–18 tokens/s320 GB
Kimi K2.667%14–23 tokens/s283 GB
Mistral Large 4 1T-A52B69%9.6–15 tokens/s276 GB
Inkling 975B-A41B71%13–20 tokens/s269 GB
Muse Spark Open 816B-A42B84%20–32 tokens/s227 GB
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash51%12–19 tokens/s373 GB
GLM-5.3 753B92%28–45 tokens/s208 GB
DeepSeek V3.274%12–18 tokens/s258 GB
DeepSeek R1 052874%12–19 tokens/s257 GB
Qwen3 Coder 480B-A35B81%12–19 tokens/s237 GB
MiniMax M3.1 Flash 428B-A23B73%11–18 tokens/s260 GB
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B78%18–28 tokens/s245 GB
Llama 4 Maverick 400B-A17B78%17–27 tokens/s245 GB

The other 2 need more memory than a workstation with 256 GB of DDR5-6400 in eight channels has; the calculator shows what more memory, or a second card, would add.

Two Instinct MI300Xs

Two of them pool 384 GB, enough for 82 of the models entirely on the cards, 9 more than one holds. The most capable that runs well is Qwen3 Coder 480B-A35B at Q5_K_M, 51–81 tokens/s. A second card adds memory, not speed: a model that already fits on one runs no faster on two.

Compared with similar graphics

Tokens per second writing Llama 3.1 8B at 4 bits, which every 8 GB card holds, and the most capable model each runs well on its own. Every card ranked.

GraphicsMemoryLlama 3.1 8BMost capable it runs well
Instinct MI300X192 GB320Mistral Medium 3.5 128B
RTX 509032 GB215Qwen3 32B
H100 80 GB (SXM)80 GB215Qwen2.5 72B
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell96 GB205Mistral Medium 3.5 128B

Estimated tokens per second; a real figure is usually within a quarter either way. * Part of it in system memory. {CAPABLE_NOTE}

How it is worked out

Writing an answer is limited by memory rather than arithmetic: for every word-piece (token) a model writes, the computer reads every weight that token uses once. So the speed is how fast the memory holding the model can be read, divided by how much is read for each token: the model’s weights at the chosen compression, plus the conversation so far. How much of its memory speed each graphics card reaches is measured, not assumed: it comes from the card’s own result in llama.cpp’s benchmark, which LM Studio, Ollama and Jan are built on. A model that does not fit in the graphics card’s memory spills into system memory, five to fifteen times slower, and one that does not fit in memory at all can be read from the drive as it runs, slower again; the estimate counts each part at its own speed, and a processor with few threads cannot use all of fast memory. Graphics built into a processor use system memory, at its speed. Reading a prompt is limited by arithmetic, so it follows the measured prompt speed.

Already running a model? See if it runs at full speed

A model that is slower than it should be is nearly always partly on the processor rather than all on the graphics card, which is several times slower — and Ollama does that without a word when something else holds the card’s memory. Bottleneck’s free app checks a model run with Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, KoboldCpp or Jan: where it really runs, how fast it writes, and what your PC should manage with it. Nothing leaves your PC. Or check and fix it by hand.

It reads your parts too: the graphics card and how much memory it really has free, how much system memory is installed, the speed it runs at and in how many channels. Memory left in one channel, or below its rated speed, halves how fast a model runs from it, and Bottleneck says so. Its AI models screen then lists what runs on this PC.

The free version shows where a model runs and how fast, with no time limit and no account. Pro, $9 once, explains why it is slower than it could be and how to fix it. Compare the versions