Best GPU for Local AI Coding

Autor: Jakub Rusinowski · Ostatnia aktualizacja: 21 lipca 2026

Ranked for coding and software engineering: Writing, refactoring and debugging code in an editor or terminal, with the model reading real project files.

Best overall: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

24 GB VRAM at 960 GB/s. It runs 80 of the models that qualify for this workload; the strongest is Qwen 3.7 35B-A3B at an estimated 164.8 tokens/sec.

The picks

GPUVRAMMSRPModels that fitBest model it runsEst. speed
Best overallAMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX24 GB$99980Qwen 3.7 35B-A3B~164.8 tok/s
Best valueIntel Arc B58012 GB$24955Qwen 3 14B~33 tok/s
Budget pickIntel Arc B57010 GB$21954Qwen3-Coder 8B~47.2 tok/s
Most memoryNVIDIA DGX Spark128 GB$4,69991Devstral-2 123B~2.7 tok/s

Full ranking for coding and software engineering

GPUScoreVRAMMSRPModels fitEst. speedTok/s per wattCost per model
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX80.824 GB$99980~164.80.46$12
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 309079.324 GB$1,49980~162.20.46$19
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 409078.624 GB$1,59980~169.90.38$20
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 509077.732 GB$1,99980~2330.41$25
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation77.148 GB$6,79983~164.80.55$82
NVIDIA L40S76.748 GB$7,49983~154.10.44$90
Intel Arc B58067.412 GB$24955~330.17$5
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT63.216 GB$49964~43.90.17$8
AMD Radeon RX 907062.916 GB$54964~44.90.2$9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 507062.512 GB$54955~46.90.19$10
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT62.116 GB$59964~49.70.23$9
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT61.920 GB$89971~28.60.09$13

How these numbers are calculated

FAQ

What is the best GPU for coding and software engineering?

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX — 24 GB of VRAM runs 80 qualifying models, the strongest being Qwen 3.7.

What is the cheapest GPU that works for coding and software engineering?

The Intel Arc B570 at $219, which runs 54 qualifying models.

How much VRAM do I need for coding and software engineering?

8 GB is the entry point at which a model for this workload will run at all. More memory buys a stronger model, not just a faster one.

What These GPUs Run

GPU Reviews

Best GPU for Other Workloads

Next Steps

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