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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/gemma-2-9b-on-rx-9060-xt-16gb


Can Gemma 2 9B run on RX 9060 XT 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

B67Good
Estimated from fit model

Gemma 2 9B needs ~13.1 GB VRAM. RX 9060 XT 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~28 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
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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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 13.1 GB, 29.2 tok/s, Runs well
13.1 GB required16.0 GB available
82% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

29.2 tok/s

TTFT

6625 ms

Safe context

8K

Memory

13.1 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB
KV Cache5.1 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGemma 2 9B on RX 9060 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: 29.2 tok/s decode · 6.6s TTFT (warm) · 73 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatBRuns well27.8 tok/s3795 ms8K
CodingBRuns well27.8 tok/s6957 ms8K
Agentic CodingCVery compromised15.8 tok/s17785 ms8K
ReasoningBRuns well27.8 tok/s8221 ms8K
RAGCVery compromised15.8 tok/s22231 ms8K

Quantization options

How Gemma 2 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on RX 9060 XT 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
3.5 GB
LowB62
Q3_K_S
3
4.4 GB
LowB63
NVFP4
4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Gemma 2 9B on your machine.

Run

ollama run gemma2

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Gemma 2 9B well

RX 7900 XT 20GBBudget pick
20 GB VRAM (+4)800 GB/s (+480)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 138%.69.6 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 138%.

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 (+640)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 197%.86.6 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 197%.

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

~$999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for RX 9060 XT 16GBSee all hardware for Gemma 2 9B
5.0 GB
Medium
B63
Q4_K_M
4
5.5 GB
MediumB64
Q5_K_M
5
6.5 GB
HighB65
Q6_K
6
7.4 GB
HighB66
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
9.6 GB
Very HighB66
F16
16
18.5 GB
MaximumF0