Calculate the TPS of the Radeon R9 M280X on local AI models
Every model in our catalogue assessed against this card at the context length and minimum quality you choose. Speed is an estimate for a single request, calculated from this card's memory bandwidth and the size of each model once compressed.
Calculated for this card
721 models in our catalogue altogether
Largest model it holds
DeciLM 6B
5.7B · Q3_K_M · 13.8 tok/s
Fastest model
Gemma 4 E2B
34.1 tok/s · 5.1B
Which AI models can run on a Radeon R9 M280X?
Set the inputs, read the answer
More context means more memory for the conversation cache. Speed is for a fresh conversation and does not change with this setting.
Hides models that would only fit by being compressed below this point.
105 models match
Calculating| Quantisation | Fit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
34.1
tok/s
20–55 · low confidence |
Gemma 4 E2B ≈ | 5.1B | Apr 2026 | 3.4 GB | 11k tokens ? | Q3_K_M | Tight |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
Gemma 3 1B | 1B | Mar 2025 | 1.8 GB | 33k tokens | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
Gemma 3 QAT 1B | 1B | Apr 2025 | 1.8 GB | 33k tokens | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
HGRN 1B (WT 103) ≈ | 1B | Nov 2023 | 1.8 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
LLama 3..2 Typhoon 2 1B ≈ | 1B | Dec 2024 | 1.8 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
OLMo-1B ≈ | 1B | Feb 2024 | 1.8 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
29.1
tok/s
17–47 · low confidence |
Pythia-1b ≈ | 1B | Apr 2023 | 1.8 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
26.9
tok/s
16–43 · low confidence |
OpenELM-1.1B ≈ | 1.1B | May 2024 | 1.9 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
26.4
tok/s
16–42 · low confidence |
DeciCoder-1B ≈ | 1.1B | Aug 2023 | 1.9 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
26.4
tok/s
16–42 · low confidence |
SantaCoder ≈ | 1.1B | Jan 2023 | 1.9 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
26.4
tok/s
16–42 · low confidence |
TinyLlama-1.1B (1T token checkpoint) ≈ | 1.1B | Oct 2023 | 1.9 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
26.4
tok/s
16–42 · low confidence |
TinyLlama-1.1B (3T token checkpoint) ≈ | 1.1B | Oct 2023 | 1.9 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
24.2
tok/s
15–39 · low confidence |
EXAONE 4.0 (1.2B) ≈ | 1.2B | Jul 2025 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
24.2
tok/s
15–39 · low confidence |
LFM2-1.2B ≈ | 1.2B | Jul 2025 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
24.2
tok/s
15–39 · low confidence |
MinerU2.5 ≈ | 1.2B | Sep 2025 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
24.2
tok/s
15–39 · low confidence |
Pleias 1.0 1.2B ≈ | 1.2B | Dec 2024 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
24.2
tok/s
15–39 · low confidence |
Pleias-RAG-1B ≈ | 1.2B | Apr 2025 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
23.6
tok/s
14–38 · low confidence |
Llama 3.2 1B | 1.2B | Sep 2024 | 2.2 GB | 54k tokens | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
23.3
tok/s
14–37 · low confidence |
MiniCPM-1.2B ≈ | 1.2B | Jun 2024 | 2.0 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
DeepSeek Coder 1.3B ≈ | 1.3B | Jan 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
DeepSeek-VL-1.3B ≈ | 1.3B | Mar 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
DigiRL ≈ | 1.3B | Jun 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
GLA Transformer 1.3B ≈ | 1.3B | Aug 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
Janus 1.3B ≈ | 1.3B | Oct 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
|
22.4
tok/s
13–36 · low confidence |
Kosmos-2.5 ≈ | 1.3B | Aug 2024 | 2.1 GB | 131k tokens ? | Q8_0 | Comfortable |
Speeds are estimates for a single request — one conversation at a time — calculated from memory bandwidth, model size and quantisation. Real throughput varies with the inference runtime and its version. Figures published by hardware vendors measure many simultaneous requests and are much higher.
On record
Radeon R9 M280X full specification
Everything on record for this board, ordered by how much it bears on running a language model rather than by how a spec sheet would list it. Memory comes first because it decides the outcome; the rest is context.
Memory
The two specifications that decide what this card can run and how quickly. Capacity sets which models fit; bandwidth sets how many tokens per second they produce once they do.
- Memory size
- 4 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- 88 GB/s
- Memory type
- GDDR5
- Memory bus width
- 128 bit
- Memory clock
- 1.38 GHz
The chip
Which processor is on the board and how it was manufactured. A smaller process size generally means more performance for the same power.
- Graphics processor
- Saturn
- Architecture
- GCN 2.0
- Generation
- Gem System(R9 M200)
- Foundry
- TSMC
- Process size
- 28 nm
- Transistors
- 2.1 billion
- Transistor density
- 13,000 K/mm²
- Die size
- 160 mm²
- Package
- FCBGA-1093
- Released
- 5 February 2015
Clock speeds
How fast the processor runs. Worth far less here than on a gaming benchmark: generating text is limited by memory bandwidth, so a higher clock barely moves the result.
- Base clock
- 900 MHz
- Boost clock
- 1 GHz
Processing units
What the chip contains. These drive graphics performance and matter mainly for processing a long prompt rather than for producing the answer.
- Shading units
- 896
- Texture mapping units
- 56
- Render output units
- 16
- L1 cache
- 16 KB
- L2 cache
- 0.25 MB
Theoretical performance
Peak arithmetic rates published for the board. These are ceilings that no real workload reaches, and generating text reaches a small fraction of them because it is limited by memory rather than arithmetic.
- Single precision (FP32)
- 1.8 TFLOPS
- Double precision (FP64)
- 112 GFLOPS
- Pixel rate
- 16 GPixel/s
- Texture rate
- 56 GTexel/s
The board
What it takes to physically install and power the card — the practical constraints that decide whether it fits the machine you already own.
- Bus interface
- PCIe 3.0 x16
Software support
Which graphics and compute interfaces the card supports. CUDA compute capability is the one that bears on inference: below 7.0 there are no tensor cores, and modern inference software falls back to slower code paths.
- DirectX
- 12.0
- OpenGL
- 4.6
- Vulkan
- 1.2
- OpenCL
- 2.1
- Shader model
- 6.5
Listings
Where to buy a Radeon R9 M280X
No vendor is currently listing this card. Listings come from vendors who publish them here directly — browse the vendor directory to see who is selling what.
What the numbers mean
Why memory is the number that matters here
Memory
4 GB
Bandwidth
88 GB/s
Largest model
DeciLM 6B
Radeon R9 M280X carries only 4 GB of GDDR5. That limits it to the smaller end of the catalogue, and a model has to fit entirely inside before it generates anything at all. A runtime actually gets about 3.6 GB.
Memory bandwidth reaches 88 GB/s across a bus of 128 bits. Bandwidth is this card's real constraint. Every token requires reading the entire model out of memory, so a large model will feel slow here even when it fits.
That comes from a memory clock of 1.38 GHz. Both halves matter, and neither is visible in a gaming benchmark.
In practice that combination tops out at DeciLM 6B, 5.7B, compressed to Q3_K_M and generating around 13.8 tokens per second.
The chip and how it was built
Radeon R9 M280X is built on the graphics processor Saturn, using the architecture GCN 2.0 from AMD, as part of the generation Gem System(R9 M200).
The chip is manufactured by TSMC, on a process of 28 nm, with a die measuring 160 mm², holding 2.1 billion transistors. A smaller process generally means more performance for the same power, though for language models it matters far less than the memory subsystem.
It was released in February 2015, roughly 11.604844089322 years ago. Inference software support tends to follow hardware by a year or two, so a card of this age generally has mature, well-optimised code paths available to it.
Compute throughput, and why it matters less than it looks
FP64
112 GFLOPS
Double-precision throughput reaches 112 GFLOPS. It has no bearing on running a language model — no inference runtime uses it — but it separates datacentre parts from consumer ones, since the latter deliberately restrict it.
Clocks run from a base of 900 MHz to a boost of 1 GHz. Worth far less here than on a gaming benchmark: raising the clock speeds up the arithmetic, and the arithmetic is not what generation is waiting on.
Cache and processing units
Radeon R9 M280X has an L1 cache of 16 KB, backed by an L2 cache of 0.25 MB. Cache absorbs a share of the memory traffic that would otherwise hit the main bus, which is the one place on this page where a number other than bandwidth quietly affects generation speed — a large L2 lets more of the working set stay close to the cores.
There are 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units. These drive graphics workloads and contribute to prompt processing, but they sit idle for much of the time a model spends generating a reply.
Power, size and installation
It connects over PCIe 3.0 x16. The interface governs how quickly a model is loaded from disk into the card, not how fast it runs once there, so a narrower link costs a few seconds at startup and nothing thereafter.
The extremes
The largest AI models that run on a Radeon R9 M280X
The biggest open-weight models that fit on this card, newest first. Each is shown at the best compression the card can hold.
The fastest AI models on a Radeon R9 M280X
Where this card produces tokens quickest. Smaller models dominate here, because generating each token means reading the whole model out of memory once.
Step by step
How to work out the tokens per second of a Radeon R9 M280X
You do not have to calculate anything by hand — the gputps.com calculator on this page has already worked it out for every model this card can hold. Reading off the answer takes six steps.
-
01
Search for the model you want
The table lists 105 models the card handles. The search box takes a name or a size such as 27b, which matches on parameter count.
-
02
Match the context to your work
Drag the slider to the conversation length you plan to work at. The cache grows with the conversation, and against a card holding 4 GB so the setting is worth getting right.
-
03
Pin the comparison to one quality level
Compression is what lets bigger models fit. The quality control drops any model that needs more of it than you are willing to give.
-
04
Read the speed and the range
Speeds come with error bars for a reason. The best case here is 34.1 tok/s on Gemma 4 E2B. The same card and model vary by thirty to fifty per cent between inference runtimes.
-
05
Check the memory column before committing
Tight means it works today; comfortable means it still works when the conversation grows. Compare what each model needs against an available 4 GB.
-
06
Check the same model from the other side
Following a model through to its own page lists all the hardware that can run it, so you can see how it compares against Radeon R9 M280X.
Answers
Radeon R9 M280X — common questions
Would two Radeon R9 M280X cards be twice as fast?
Capacity adds, throughput does not. Two of them give you 8 GB which lets you hold models neither could hold alone, but generation does not split that way. These figures describe one card.
Radeon R9 M280X— which AI models can it run?
105 of the 721 open-weight language models we track fit on this card and can be run locally. The table on this page lists every one, with the memory it needs, the quantisation it runs at and an estimated generation speed.
Radeon R9 M280X— what is the largest AI model it can run?
The largest model in our catalogue that fits is DeciLM 6B at 5.7B parameters, compressed to Q3_K_M. It generates roughly 13.8 tokens per second and needs about 3.5 GB of the card's memory.
Radeon R9 M280X— how many tokens per second does it produce?
It depends on the model. The fastest model we track here is Gemma 4 E2B at about 34.1 tokens per second, while larger models run proportionally slower because each token requires reading the whole model out of memory once. Speeds are estimates for a single conversation at a time.
Radeon R9 M280X— how much memory does it have?
This card has 4 GB of GDDR5. Around a tenth is reserved by the inference runtime and the driver, leaving roughly 3.6 GB available for a model and its conversation.
Radeon R9 M280X— what is its memory bandwidth?
Memory bandwidth reaches 88 GB/s across a bus of 128 bits. This is the single best predictor of how fast it generates text, because producing each token means reading the entire model out of memory once.
Radeon R9 M280X— what type of memory does it use?
It uses GDDR5 clocked at 1.38 GHz. HBM types are found on datacentre accelerators and carry far more bandwidth than the GDDR used on desktop cards, which is why they generate tokens considerably faster at the same capacity.
Radeon R9 M280X— who makes it?
This is a product of AMD, with the chip manufactured by TSMC, on a process of 28 nm.
Radeon R9 M280X— when was it released?
It was released in February 2015.
Radeon R9 M280X— how much cache does it have?
The L1 cache is 16 KB, and the L2 cache is 0.25 MB. Cache absorbs part of the memory traffic that would otherwise reach the main bus, so a larger L2 gives a modest lift to generation speed beyond what bandwidth alone predicts.
Radeon R9 M280X— does it support CUDA?
No. CUDA is NVIDIA-only, and this is a card from AMD. It runs language models through ROCm, Vulkan or Metal depending on the software, which are less mature than the CUDA path — our estimates apply a penalty for that.
Radeon R9 M280X— what bus interface does it use?
It uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This governs how fast a model is loaded onto the card rather than how fast it runs once loaded, so it costs a few seconds at startup and nothing during generation.
Radeon R9 M280X— is it good for running local AI models?
Its memory limits it to smaller models though its bandwidth means generation will feel slow on larger models. In total it runs 105 of the models we track. Whether that is enough depends entirely on which model you want — the table above answers that directly.
Radeon R9 M280X— can it run a model that does not fit in its memory?
Only partly. Layers beyond the card's 4 GB drags the whole thing down, and none of the figures on this page assume it.
The other direction
Looking at it from the other side?
This page starts from the hardware. If you already know which model you want and need to know what it takes to run it, start from the model instead.