Can Qwen 3 235B A22B run on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

YES — With NVFP4

A79Great
Estimated from fit model

Qwen 3 235B A22B needs ~148.2 GB VRAM. AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB has 128.0 GB. With NVFP4 quantization, expect ~32 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload
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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.

Qwen 3 235B A22B at Q4_K_M needs 159.9 GB — too much for AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB (128.0 GB). Runs at NVFP4 (148.2 GB) with medium quality. 3 quantization levels fit.
Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) 159.9 GB, exceeds 128.0 GB available
159.9 GB required128.0 GB available
125% VRAM needed

31.9 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

23.8 tok/s

TTFT

8119 ms

Safe context

4K

Memory

159.9 GB / 128.0 GB

Offload

20%

Memory breakdown

Weights143.4 GB
KV Cache2.9 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom12.8 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower
See how fast it feelsQwen 3 235B A22B on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step. Given information: - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour) - Time = 2.5 hours Formula: Distance = Speed x Time Calculation: Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h = 150 miles The train travels 150 miles. Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time. Breakdown: - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance) - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles Total distance: 150 miles (same) Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 23.8 tok/s decode · 8.1s TTFT (warm) · 60 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 17.9 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatFToo heavy24.3 tok/s4346 ms4K
CodingFToo heavy23.8 tok/s8119 ms4K
Agentic CodingFToo heavy23.0 tok/s12260 ms4K
ReasoningFToo heavy23.8 tok/s9596 ms4K
RAGFToo heavy23.0 tok/s15325 ms4K

Quantization options

How Qwen 3 235B A22B (235B params) fits at each quantization level on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB (128.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_KBest for your GPU
2
91.7 GB
LowS86
Q3_K_S
3
115.2 GB
LowF0
NVFP4
4
131.6 GB
MediumF0
Q4_K_M
4
143.4 GB
MediumF0
Q5_K_M
5
169.2 GB
HighF0
Q6_K
6
192.7 GB
HighF0
Q8_0
8
251.5 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
481.7 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 3 235B A22B on your machine.

Run

lms load Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 && lms server start

アップグレードオプション

Qwen 3 235B A22Bを快適に動かすハードウェア

Frequently asked questions

Can AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB run Qwen 3 235B A22B?

Yes, AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB can run Qwen 3 235B A22B at NVFP4 quantization (Very compromised (needs ~17.9 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 159.9 GB which exceeds available memory, but at NVFP4 it needs only 148.2 GB. Expected decode speed: 32.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 3 235B A22B need?

Qwen 3 235B A22B (235B parameters) requires approximately 159.9 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB, it fits at NVFP4 using 148.2 GB.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 3 235B A22B?

The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB the best fitting quantization is NVFP4, which uses 148.2 GB.

What speed will Qwen 3 235B A22B run at on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

On AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB, Qwen 3 235B A22B achieves approximately 32.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6045ms using NVFP4 quantization.

Can AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB run Qwen 3 235B A22B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 3 235B A22B on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB receives a F grade with 23.8 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Qwen 3 235B A22B use on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

On AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB, Qwen 3 235B A22B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context at NVFP4 quantization. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Qwen 3 235B A22B feels slow on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

See all results for AMD Instinct MI250X 128GBSee all hardware for Qwen 3 235B A22B
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