Qwen3.8-27B

· vllm · 256K context · 2 × Radeon RX 7900 XTX in one machine · 48 GB

Alibaba's 27B dense model from August 2026, and the strongest model that fits one consumer card. It thinks before it answers, calls tools reliably and reads images, which makes it the default for coding agents and long projects.

65 tok/sdecode

95 tok/sprefill

256Kcontext window

Tested on this cardOct 16, 2026

Run it

Follow the steps below to download and run this recipe. Omarchy Local AI lists the recipes it can launch on your hardware. The server then answers on http://localhost:8000/v1.

1 Download the weights

hf download RedHatAI/Qwen3.8-27B-INT4 \
  --revision bf08f3dbd9a324e53956920aad378a1f1b6dd24a

2 Write the server config

cat > qwen3.8-27b.vllm.256k.2x.yml <<'EOF'
{%- set image_count = namespace(value=0) %}
{%- set video_count = namespace(value=0) %}
{%- macro render_content(content, do_vision_count, is_system_content=false) %}
    {%- if content is string %}
        {{- content }}
    {%- elif content is iterable and content is not mapping %}
        {%- for item in content %}
            {%- if 'image' in item or 'image_url' in item or item.type == 'image' %}
                {%- if is_system_content %}
                    {{- raise_exception('System message cannot contain images.') }}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if do_vision_count %}
                    {%- set image_count.value = image_count.value + 1 %}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if add_vision_id %}
                    {{- 'Picture ' ~ image_count.value ~ ': ' }}
                {%- endif %}
                {{- '<|vision_start|><|image_pad|><|vision_end|>' }}
            {%- elif 'video' in item or item.type == 'video' %}
                {%- if is_system_content %}
                    {{- raise_exception('System message cannot contain videos.') }}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if do_vision_count %}
                    {%- set video_count.value = video_count.value + 1 %}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if add_vision_id %}
                    {{- 'Video ' ~ video_count.value ~ ': ' }}
                {%- endif %}
                {{- '<|vision_start|><|video_pad|><|vision_end|>' }}
            {%- elif 'text' in item %}
                {{- item.text }}
            {%- else %}
                {{- raise_exception('Unexpected item type in content.') }}
            {%- endif %}
        {%- endfor %}
    {%- elif content is none or content is undefined %}
        {{- '' }}
    {%- else %}
        {{- raise_exception('Unexpected content type.') }}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endmacro %}
{%- if not messages %}
    {{- raise_exception('No messages provided.') }}
{%- endif %}
{%- set reasoning_instructions = '' %}
{%- if enable_thinking is undefined or enable_thinking is true %}
    {%- set resolved_reasoning_effort = reasoning_effort|default('xhigh') %}
    {%- if resolved_reasoning_effort in ('high', 'max', 'auto') %}
        {%- set resolved_reasoning_effort = 'xhigh' %}
    {%- elif resolved_reasoning_effort in ('minimal', 'min', 'off') %}
        {%- set resolved_reasoning_effort = 'low' %}
    {%- endif %}
    {%- if resolved_reasoning_effort not in ('xhigh', 'medium', 'low') %}
        {{- raise_exception('Unexpected reasoning effort ' ~ reasoning_effort ~ '. Supported types are xhigh (default), medium, and low.') }}
    {%- endif %}
    {%- if resolved_reasoning_effort == 'xhigh' %}
        {%- set reasoning_instructions = 'Reasoning effort is set to xhigh. Please think carefully through the task, validate key assumptions, consider plausible alternatives, and prioritize correctness, consistency, and clarity in the final answer.' %}
    {%- elif resolved_reasoning_effort == 'low' %}
        {%- set reasoning_instructions = 'Reasoning effort is set to low. Keep your thinking brief and focused, moving directly to the conclusion without unnecessary elaboration.' %}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endif %}
{%- if tools and tools is iterable and tools is not mapping %}
    {{- '<|im_start|>system\n' }}
    {%- if reasoning_instructions %}
        {{- reasoning_instructions + '\n\n' }}
    {%- endif %}
    {{- "# Tools\n\nYou have access to the following functions:\n\n<tools>" }}
    {%- for tool in tools %}
        {{- "\n" }}
        {{- tool | tojson }}
    {%- endfor %}
    {{- "\n</tools>" }}
    {{- '\n\nIf you choose to call a function ONLY reply in the following format with NO suffix:\n\n<tool_call>\n<function=example_function_name>\n<parameter=example_parameter_1>\nvalue_1\n</parameter>\n<parameter=example_parameter_2>\nThis is the value for the second parameter\nthat can span\nmultiple lines\n</parameter>\n</function>\n</tool_call>\n\n<IMPORTANT>\nReminder:\n- Function calls MUST follow the specified format: an inner <function=...></function> block must be nested within <tool_call></tool_call> XML tags\n- Required parameters MUST be specified\n- You may provide optional reasoning for your function call in natural language BEFORE the function call, but NOT after\n- If there is no function call available, answer the question like normal with your current knowledge and do not tell the user about function calls\n</IMPORTANT>' }}
    {%- if messages[0].role == 'system' %}
        {%- set content = render_content(messages[0].content, false, true)|trim %}
        {%- if content %}
            {{- '\n\n' + content }}
        {%- endif %}
    {%- endif %}
    {{- '<|im_end|>\n' }}
{%- else %}
    {%- if messages[0].role == 'system' %}
        {%- set content = render_content(messages[0].content, false, true)|trim %}
        {%- if content %}
            {{- '<|im_start|>system\n' + (reasoning_instructions + '\n\n' if reasoning_instructions else '')  + content + '<|im_end|>\n' }}
        {%- elif reasoning_instructions %}
            {{- '<|im_start|>system\n' + reasoning_instructions + '<|im_end|>\n' }}
        {%- endif %}
    {%- elif reasoning_instructions %}
        {{- '<|im_start|>system\n' + reasoning_instructions + '<|im_end|>\n' }}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endif %}
{%- set ns = namespace(multi_step_tool=true, last_query_index=messages|length - 1) %}
{%- for message in messages[::-1] %}
    {%- set index = (messages|length - 1) - loop.index0 %}
    {%- if ns.multi_step_tool and message.role == "user" %}
        {%- set content = render_content(message.content, false)|trim %}
        {%- if not(content.startswith('<tool_response>') and content.endswith('</tool_response>')) %}
            {%- set ns.multi_step_tool = false %}
            {%- set ns.last_query_index = index %}
        {%- endif %}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endfor %}
{%- if ns.multi_step_tool %}
    {{- raise_exception('No user query found in messages.') }}
{%- endif %}
{%- for message in messages %}
    {%- set content = render_content(message.content, true)|trim %}
    {%- if message.role == "system" %}
        {%- if not loop.first %}
            {{- raise_exception('System message must be at the beginning.') }}
        {%- endif %}
    {%- elif message.role == "user" %}
        {{- '<|im_start|>' + message.role + '\n' + content + '<|im_end|>' + '\n' }}
    {%- elif message.role == "assistant" %}
        {%- set reasoning_content = '' %}
        {%- if message.reasoning_content is string %}
            {%- set reasoning_content = message.reasoning_content %}
        {%- endif %}
        {%- set reasoning_content = reasoning_content|trim %}
        {%- if preserve_thinking is undefined or preserve_thinking is true or loop.index0 > ns.last_query_index %}
            {{- '<|im_start|>' + message.role + '\n<think>\n' + reasoning_content + '\n</think>\n\n' + content }}
        {%- else %}
            {{- '<|im_start|>' + message.role + '\n' + content }}
        {%- endif %}
        {%- if message.tool_calls and message.tool_calls is iterable and message.tool_calls is not mapping %}
            {%- for tool_call in message.tool_calls %}
                {%- if tool_call.function is defined %}
                    {%- set tool_call = tool_call.function %}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if loop.first %}
                    {%- if content|trim %}
                        {{- '\n\n<tool_call>\n<function=' + tool_call.name + '>\n' }}
                    {%- else %}
                        {{- '<tool_call>\n<function=' + tool_call.name + '>\n' }}
                    {%- endif %}
                {%- else %}
                    {{- '\n<tool_call>\n<function=' + tool_call.name + '>\n' }}
                {%- endif %}
                {%- if tool_call.arguments is defined and tool_call.arguments != '' %}
                    {%- for args_name, args_value in tool_call.arguments|items %}
                        {{- '<parameter=' + args_name + '>\n' }}
                        {%- set args_value = args_value | string if args_value is string else args_value | tojson | safe %}
                        {{- args_value }}
                        {{- '\n</parameter>\n' }}
                    {%- endfor %}
                {%- endif %}
                {{- '</function>\n</tool_call>' }}
            {%- endfor %}
        {%- endif %}
        {{- '<|im_end|>\n' }}
    {%- elif message.role == "tool" %}
        {%- if loop.previtem and loop.previtem.role != "tool" %}
            {{- '<|im_start|>user' }}
        {%- endif %}
        {{- '\n<tool_response>\n' }}
        {{- content }}
        {{- '\n</tool_response>' }}
        {%- if not loop.last and loop.nextitem.role != "tool" %}
            {{- '<|im_end|>\n' }}
        {%- elif loop.last %}
            {{- '<|im_end|>\n' }}
        {%- endif %}
    {%- else %}
        {{- raise_exception('Unexpected message role.') }}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endfor %}
{%- if add_generation_prompt %}
    {{- '<|im_start|>assistant\n' }}
    {%- if enable_thinking is defined and enable_thinking is false %}
        {{- '<think>\n\n</think>\n\n' }}
    {%- else %}
        {{- '<think>\n' }}
    {%- endif %}
{%- endif %}
EOF

3 Start the server

docker run --rm \
  --device /dev/kfd --device /dev/dri \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  --shm-size 16g \
  -e FLASH_ATTENTION_TRITON_AMD_ENABLE=TRUE \
  -e HF_HOME=/root/.cache/huggingface \
  -e NCCL_P2P_DISABLE=1 \
  -e VLLM_ROCM_USE_AITER=0 \
  -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface \
  -v $PWD/qwen3.8-27b.vllm.256k.2x.yml:/opt/omarchy/qwen38-chat-template.jinja:ro \
  vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v0.31.0@sha256:749f6f3f944f12af49966ac523c1f8573e4b229594b541954bd5f879b4496b1f \
  RedHatAI/Qwen3.8-27B-INT4 \
  --revision bf08f3dbd9a324e53956920aad378a1f1b6dd24a \
  --served-model-name qwen3.8-27b \
  --host 0.0.0.0 \
  --port 8000 \
  --tensor-parallel-size 2 \
  --mm-encoder-tp-mode data \
  --gpu-memory-utilization 0.90 \
  --trust-remote-code \
  --reasoning-parser qwen3 \
  --enable-auto-tool-choice \
  --tool-call-parser qwen3_coder \
  --attention-backend TRITON_ATTN \
  --speculative-config '{"method":"mtp","num_speculative_tokens":2}' \
  --max-num-batched-tokens 8192 \
  --max-num-seqs 8 \
  --chat-template /opt/omarchy/qwen38-chat-template.jinja

What it passed

✓ loadLoads and serves within an hour

✓ chatAnswers a plain question and stops on its own

✓ reasoningThinks separately and gets 17 × 23 right

✓ toolsCalls a tool with the right arguments and uses the result

✓ contextRecalls a code buried in a prompt that fills 85% of the window

✓ speedDecodes at 15 tok/s or more

Passed all six checks on a real AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX on Oct 16, 2026.

Details

Weights: RedHatAI/Qwen3.8-27B-INT4 @ bf08f3dbd9 ›
Image: vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v0.31.0@sha256:749f6f3f944f12af49966ac523c1f8573e4b229594b541954bd5f879b4496b1f
Launch: vllm-rocm-qwen3.8-27b-int4-mtp2-256k ›
Recipe file: registry/recipes/amd/rx-7900-xtx-24gb/qwen3.8-27b.vllm.256k.2x.json ›
Model released: Aug 5, 2026
Tested: owner, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX