Best local AI model for RTX 4090 24GB.

The same quality class as the 3090, much faster. Choose by benchmark score, not card prestige. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is a 2026 open-weight model built for stability and real-world coding utility, which makes it the best 24GB "serious local" pick when quant and runtime are stable.

Recommendation Full matrix

01 / Recommendation

Run this size class.

Recommended default

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B Q4 / EXL2

Use Q4 GGUF or EXL2, modest context. This is the highest-scoring current open-weight model that fits this card cleanly, selected by benchmark then fit then freshness, not by parameter count.

Benchmark anchor

MMLU-Pro 85.6 / 85.0 · GPQA Diamond 84.9 / 84.8 · AIME 2025 89.2 / 88.8. Same score class as the 3090, much faster delivery.

Evidence

Qwen says Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is built for stability and coding utility; benchmark profile matches the 3090 row with faster throughput.

02 / Alternates

Other realistic picks.

Qwen3-30B-A3B fallback

Qwen3-32B dense at Q4

Flux.1 Dev and SDXL for image generation

03 / More GPUs

Compare another card.

RTX 3060 12GB RTX 4060 Ti 16GB RTX 5080 16GB RTX 3090 24GB RTX 5090 32GB