32GB VRAM

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run?

86 of 110 indexed models fit comfortably in 32GB at 4K context, each at the highest-quality quant that still leaves headroom.

The short answer for Instinct MI100 32G

32 GB, 1,228 GB/s HBM2. 86 of 110 models in this index fit comfortably at 4K context; 89 load at all.

Biggest that fits
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9B — 23.1 GB at IQ2_XXS — 9.0 GB spare at 4K, so longer context comes out of a thin margin.
Room to grow
GLM-4.7-Flash — 19.2 GB at Q4_K_M — under 60% of the card, which leaves 12.8 GB for a long context window or a second process.
Speed ceiling
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at Q4_K_M reads 4.6 GB of weights per token, so 1,228 GB/s puts a hard ceiling near 266 tok/s. That is arithmetic on two published numbers, not a benchmark — real throughput lands below it. No run on this card has been measured here, so there is nothing to compare the ceiling against.
The wall you will hit
Backend coverage, not capacity. At 1,228 GB/s the memory system is competitive with NVIDIA cards of the same size; what varies is whether your runtime has a working ROCm build for your kernel and card. llama.cpp and vLLM both ship official ROCm support — this is a setup question, not a hardware ceiling.
Best local LLM for 32GB

70B+ · 1

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run? — 70B+
ModelQuantEst. VRAMHeadroomtok/s
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9B74B-A9BIQ2_XXS23.05 GB+9 GB≤483Ceiling

32B · 28

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run? — 32B
ModelQuantEst. VRAMHeadroomtok/s
Seed-OSS 36B Instruct36BQ5_K_M27.81 GB+4.2 GB≤51Ceiling
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B35B-A3BQ4_K_M23.38 GB+8.6 GB≤688Ceiling
Command R 35B35BQ4_K_M22.86 GB+9.1 GB≤61Ceiling
Yi 1.5 34B Chat34BQ4_K_M22.82 GB+9.2 GB≤62Ceiling
Qwen3 32B Instruct32BQ4_K_M21.85 GB+10.1 GB21–28Derived
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct32BQ4_K_M21.69 GB+10.3 GB21–28Derived
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct32BQ4_K_M21.69 GB+10.3 GB21–28Derived
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B32BQ4_K_M21.69 GB+10.3 GB21–28Derived
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B30B-A3BQ4_019.79 GB+12.2 GB≤720Ceiling
Gemma 4 31B IT31BQ4_K_M21.08 GB+10.9 GB22–30Derived
Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct30B-A3BQ5_K_M23.04 GB+9 GB≤607Ceiling
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct30B-A3BQ5_K_M23.04 GB+9 GB≤607Ceiling
Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B Instruct30B-A3BQ4_K_M19.73 GB+12.3 GB≤711Ceiling
GLM-4.7-Flash30B-A3BQ4_K_M19.19 GB+12.8 GB≤711Ceiling
Granite 4.2 30B30BQ6_K26.19 GB+5.8 GB17–23Derived
Muse Glimmer 30B30BQ6_K24.61 GB+7.4 GB18–24Derived
Qwen3.8 27B27BQ4_K_M17.47 GB+14.5 GB25–34Derived
Qwen3.6 27B27BQ5_K_M22.19 GB+9.8 GB20–26Derived
Gemma 3 27B IT27BQ4_K_M18.37 GB+13.6 GB25–33Derived
Gemma 2 27B Instruct27BQ5_K_M21.76 GB+10.2 GB22–29Derived
Gemma 4 26B-A4B IT26B-A4BQ4_K_M16.39 GB+15.6 GB≤533Ceiling
Mistral Small 24B Instruct24BQ4_K_M15.89 GB+16.1 GB29–38Derived
LFM2.5 24B-A2B24B-A2BQ8_026.73 GB+5.3 GB≤496Ceiling
Devstral Small 1.1 24B24BQ6_K20.91 GB+11.1 GB22–29Derived
Magistral Small 1.2 24B24BQ6_K20.91 GB+11.1 GB22–29Derived
Codestral 22B22BQ4_K_M15.03 GB+17 GB31–41Derived
ERNIE 4.5 21B-A3B21B-A3BQ8_024.44 GB+7.6 GB≤406Ceiling
GPT-OSS 20B21B MoEMXFP412.76 GB+19.2 GB≤620Ceiling

14B · 18

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run? — 14B
ModelQuantEst. VRAMHeadroomtok/s
InternLM2 20B Chat20BQ5_K_M15.59 GB+16.4 GB30–39Derived
DeepSeek-Coder-V2-Lite Instruct16B-A2.4BQ8_017.56 GB+14.4 GB≤507Ceiling
DeepSeek-V2-Lite Chat16B-A2.4BQ4_K_M10.08 GB+21.9 GB≤889Ceiling
StarCoder2 15B15BQ4_K_M10.19 GB+21.8 GB46–61Derived
Qwen3 14B Instruct14BQ5_K_M11.65 GB+20.4 GB40–53Derived
Qwen2.5 14B Instruct14BQ5_K_M11.73 GB+20.3 GB40–53Derived
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B14BQ4_K_M10.14 GB+21.9 GB47–62Derived
Phi-4 14B14BQ5_K_M11.77 GB+20.2 GB40–53Derived
Phi-3 Medium 14B Instruct14BQ6_K12.86 GB+19.1 GB36–48Derived
Mistral Nemo 12B Instruct12BQ6_K11.14 GB+20.9 GB42–55Derived
Gemma 3 12B IT12BQ5_K_M9.84 GB+22.2 GB48–64Derived
Mellum2.1 12B-A2.5B Thinking12B-A2.5BQ8_013.6 GB+18.4 GB≤487Ceiling
Stable LM 2 12B Chat12BQ4_K_M8.35 GB+23.7 GB57–75Derived
Llama 3.2 11B Vision Instruct11BQ8_012.9 GB+19.1 GB36–47Derived
Solar 10.7B Instruct11BQ4_K_M7.6 GB+24.4 GB65–85Derived
Falcon 3 10B Instruct10BQ4_K_M7.28 GB+24.7 GB66–88Derived
Gemma 2 9B Instruct9BQ8_011.7 GB+20.3 GB43–56Derived
Qwen3.5 9B9BQ8_010.37 GB+21.6 GB43–56Derived

7B · 25

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run? — 7B
ModelQuantEst. VRAMHeadroomtok/s
GLM-4-9B-Chat9BQ8_010.16 GB+21.8 GB44–58Derived
Qwen3-VL 8B Instruct8BQ8_010.39 GB+21.6 GB45–59Derived
Granite 4.2 8B8BQ8_010.45 GB+21.6 GB45–59Derived
Ministral 3 8B Instruct8BQ8_010.02 GB+22 GB46–61Derived
Qwen2-VL 7B Instruct7BQ4_K_M5.49 GB+26.5 GB83–110Derived
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct8BQ4_K_M5.88 GB+26.1 GB84–111Derived
Qwen3 8B Instruct8BQ6_K7.64 GB+24.4 GB62–82Derived
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct8BQ8_09.47 GB+22.5 GB49–65Derived
Nous Hermes 3 Llama 3.1 8B8BQ4_K_M5.64 GB+26.4 GB86–114Derived
Aya 23 8B8BQ4_K_M5.64 GB+26.4 GB86–114Derived
OpenChat 3.6 8B8BQ4_K_M5.64 GB+26.4 GB86–114Derived
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B8BQ5_K_M6.51 GB+25.5 GB73–97Derived
InternLM2 7B Chat7BQ4_K_M5.45 GB+26.6 GB89–118Derived
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct7BQ6_K6.77 GB+25.2 GB67–89Derived
Qwen2.5-Coder 7B Instruct7BQ4_K_M5.07 GB+26.9 GB91–120Derived
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-7B7BQ4_K_M5.07 GB+26.9 GB91–120Derived
Gemma 4 E4B ITE4BQ8_08.46 GB+23.5 GB52–69Derived
OLMo 2 7B Instruct7BQ8_010.3 GB+21.7 GB54–71Derived
OLMo 3 7B Instruct7BQ8_010.3 GB+21.7 GB54–71Derived
WizardLM-2 7B7BQ4_K_M5.14 GB+26.9 GB95–126Derived
Mistral 7B Instruct v0.37BQ6_K6.75 GB+25.3 GB70–93Derived
Zephyr 7B Beta7BQ6_K6.75 GB+25.3 GB70–93Derived
Gemma 4 E2B ITE2BQ8_05.2 GB+26.8 GB≤262Ceiling
Qwen3.5 4B4BQ8_04.97 GB+27 GB≤280Ceiling
Gemma 3 4B IT4BQ8_05.05 GB+27 GB≤283Ceiling

≤3B · 14

Instinct MI100 32G — what LLMs can it run? — ≤3B
ModelQuantEst. VRAMHeadroomtok/s
Qwen3 4B Instruct4BQ6_K4.05 GB+28 GB≤394Ceiling
Phi-4 Mini Instruct3.8BQ8_04.81 GB+27.2 GB≤316Ceiling
Phi-3.5 Mini Instruct3.8BQ8_05.89 GB+26.1 GB≤318Ceiling
Granite 4.2 3B3BQ8_04.41 GB+27.6 GB≤333Ceiling
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct3BQ8_04.05 GB+28 GB≤379Ceiling
Qwen2.5 3B Instruct3BQ8_03.59 GB+28.4 GB≤394Ceiling
SmolLM3 3B3BQ8_03.73 GB+28.3 GB≤395Ceiling
Gemma 2 2B Instruct2BQ8_03.34 GB+28.7 GB≤467Ceiling
Qwen3.5 2B2BQ8_02.23 GB+29.8 GB≤620Ceiling
Qwen3 1.7B Instruct1.7BQ8_02.39 GB+29.6 GB≤706Ceiling
Qwen2.5 1.5B Instruct1.5BQ8_01.83 GB+30.2 GB≤792Ceiling
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct1BQ8_01.51 GB+30.5 GB≤982Ceiling
Qwen3.5 0.8B0.8BQ8_00.94 GB+31.1 GB≤1516Ceiling
Qwen2.5 0.5B Instruct0.5BQ8_00.6 GB+31.4 GB≤2506Ceiling

How this list is built

Each row is the lowest-perplexity-loss quant of that model whose estimated total — weights plus KV cache at 4K context plus activation buffer — uses at most 88% of the card. That is the calculator's "green" threshold, so every row here has real headroom rather than only just fitting. Raise the context length and the list shortens; the calculator lets you check any combination directly. The speed column is this card: a measured run, a range scaled from this card's own Llama 2 7B benchmark, or a bandwidth ceiling. A figure that only exists for the RTX 4090 is labelled as that card.

A further 3 models load but with no headroom to spare (up to 105% of VRAM) — the Quant Hub’s GPU chips count those too, which is why its number is higher.

Measured on this card

No benchmark runs in this index were recorded on a Instinct MI100 32G. Every figure on this page is calculated from the model architecture and the quant level — treat them as estimates, not measurements.

Cards with the same budget

What fits is decided by memory, so every 32GB card of this type returns the same list. These pages are not different answers — they differ in throughput, which this index does not measure per card.

The same 32GB in system memory is a different machine — everything on this page fits there, at a speed set by your DIMMs rather than a graphics bus: 32 GB RAM (CPU)

Same list, different speed — play one sentence on both cards: Instinct MI100 32G vs Radeon AI PRO R9700 32G (Qwen3 32B Instruct)

Setup guides for this card

Step-by-step guides written for the Instinct MI100 32G's runtime or memory size, with the commands and the checks that prove the model is running on the card.

Stepping up

A Radeon PRO W7900 48G (48GB) fits 8 more of the indexed models than this card. Radeon PRO W7900 48G →

Before buying, hear the speed difference on a model both cards hold: Instinct MI100 32G vs Radeon PRO W7900 48G (Qwen3 32B Instruct) →

Common questions

What is the best local LLM for an Instinct MI100 32G?

For everyday use, GLM-4.7-Flash at Q4_K_M — about 19.2 GB of the card's 32 GB at 4K context, leaving 12.8 GB for a longer window. If you want the largest thing that will load, that is Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9B at IQ2_XXS (23.1 GB, 9.0 GB spare). "Best" here means best fit for the memory budget — this index does not run task benchmarks, so it cannot tell you which model is smarter.

Can an Instinct MI100 32G run Llama 3.2 90B Vision Instruct?

No. Its smallest build here, Q3_K_M, needs about 46.2 GB and this card has 32.0 GB usable — short by 14.2 GB before any context beyond 4K. The largest model this card does clear is Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9B.

How many tokens per second does an Instinct MI100 32G do on an 8B model at Q4?

This index has no measured run on this card, so it does not publish a figure. What can be stated from specifications: generating a token requires reading every weight once, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at Q4_K_M is 4.6 GB of weights, and this card moves 1,228 GB/s — a ceiling near 266 tok/s. Batch size, context length, the runtime and how much of the model sits in cache all take you below it.

Instinct MI100 32G or RTX 5090 for local LLMs?

They do not hold the same set: Instinct MI100 32G fits 86 and RTX 5090 88 of 110 at 4K — the cards load different formats. Speed is the other difference — 1,228 GB/s against 1,792 GB/s, a 1.5× gap in how fast the weights can be read, which is what token generation is bound by. The RTX 5090 generates faster on any model both can hold.

86 of 110 indexed models fit comfortably in 32GB at 4K context, each at the highest-quality quant that still leaves headroom.

This page's figures change when the model or the runtime does.Last updated 2026-10-18 RSS → /feed.xml