RTX 2080 Ti vs RX 7800 XT for local AI
The RX 7800 XT fits more: up to gpt-oss 20B, against Qwen3 14B on the RTX 2080 Ti. They generate at about the same speed, since their memory bandwidth is close (616 and 624 GB/s).
Memory and bandwidth
Memory decides which models fit. Bandwidth decides how fast they generate, because every token reads the model's active weights once.
| RTX 2080 Ti | RX 7800 XT | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 11 GB VRAM | 16 GB VRAM |
| Bandwidth | 616 GB/s | 624 GB/s |
| Biggest model that fits | Qwen3 14B | gpt-oss 20B |
| Best everyday pick | Qwen3 14B, ~36 tok/s | gpt-oss 20B, ~110 tok/s |
Every model, side by side
Estimated generation speed at the largest memory size each was sold in (11 GB and 16 GB).
| Model | RTX 2080 Ti | RX 7800 XT |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B About 4 GB | ~140 tok/s Runs great | ~140 tok/s Runs great |
| Qwen3 8B About 7 GB | ~65 tok/s Runs great | ~66 tok/s Runs great |
| Gemma 3 12B About 10 GB | ~42 tok/s Runs great | ~42 tok/s Runs great |
| Qwen3 14B About 11 GB | ~36 tok/s Runs great | ~37 tok/s Runs great |
| gpt-oss 20B About 16 GB | Needs 16 GB | ~110 tok/s Runs great |
| Gemma 3 27B About 19 GB | Needs 19 GB | Needs 19 GB |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B About 21 GB | Needs 21 GB | Needs 21 GB |
| Qwen3 32B About 22 GB | Needs 22 GB | Needs 22 GB |
| Llama 3.3 70B About 45 GB | Needs 45 GB | Needs 45 GB |
| gpt-oss 120B About 67 GB | Needs 67 GB | Needs 67 GB |
| Qwen3 235B-A22B About 144 GB | Needs 144 GB | Needs 144 GB |
| DeepSeek R1 671B About 406 GB | Needs 406 GB | Needs 406 GB |
The RX 7800 XT: it fits bigger models and runs faster. Price matters as much as either number: check used prices on the builds page, where every parts list has a measured or estimated speed.
Both columns use the same formula: memory bandwidth divided by the weights read per token, calibrated on our own rack, with Ollama's default 4-bit sizes. Real results are usually within about a third. Measured either one? Send us the number.