Can HelpingAI 15B i1 run on RX 6900 XT 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

C50Usable

Estimated from fit model

HelpingAI 15B i1 needs ~13.4 GB VRAM. RX 6900 XT 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~32 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 13.4 GB, 31.9 tok/s, Tight fit

13.4 GB required16.0 GB available

84% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

31.9 tok/s

TTFT

6070 ms

Safe context

40K

Memory

13.4 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.2 GB

KV Cache1.8 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsHelpingAI 15B i1 on RX 6900 XT 16GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 31.9 tok/s decode · 6.1s TTFT (warm) · 80 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

No major red flags

This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	C	Runs well	31.9 tok/s	3311 ms	40K
Coding	C	Tight fit	31.9 tok/s	6070 ms	40K
Agentic Coding	C	Tight fit	31.9 tok/s	8829 ms	40K
Reasoning	C	Tight fit	31.9 tok/s	7174 ms	40K
RAG	C	Tight fit	31.9 tok/s	11036 ms	40K

Quantization options

How HelpingAI 15B i1 (15B params) fits at each quantization level on RX 6900 XT 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.9 GB	Low	C49
Q3_K_S	3	7.4 GB	Low	C51
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run HelpingAI 15B i1 on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-mradermacher--helpingai-15b-i1-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs HelpingAI 15B i1 well

RX 7900 XT 20GBBudget pick

20 GB VRAM (+4)800 GB/s (+288)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 65%.52.5 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 65%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$899 MSRP

RX 7900 XTX 24GBBest value

24 GB VRAM (+8)960 GB/s (+448)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 137%.75.5 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 137%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$999 MSRP

AMD Instinct MI100 32GBAMD upgrade

32 GB VRAM (+16)1228 GB/s (+716)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 173%.87.2 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 173%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$11,500 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RX 6900 XT 16GB run HelpingAI 15B i1?

Yes, RX 6900 XT 16GB can run HelpingAI 15B i1 with a C grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 31.9 tok/s.

How much VRAM does HelpingAI 15B i1 need?

HelpingAI 15B i1 (15B parameters) requires approximately 13.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for HelpingAI 15B i1?

The recommended quantization for HelpingAI 15B i1 is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will HelpingAI 15B i1 run at on RX 6900 XT 16GB?

On RX 6900 XT 16GB, HelpingAI 15B i1 achieves approximately 31.9 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6070ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RX 6900 XT 16GB run HelpingAI 15B i1 for coding?

For coding workloads, HelpingAI 15B i1 on RX 6900 XT 16GB receives a C grade with 31.9 tok/s and 40K context.

What context window can HelpingAI 15B i1 use on RX 6900 XT 16GB?

On RX 6900 XT 16GB, HelpingAI 15B i1 can safely use up to 40K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RX 6900 XT 16GB See all hardware for HelpingAI 15B i1

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