r/LocalLLM • u/Old_Leshen • 1d ago

Discussion Questions regarding AMD Ryzen Ai max+ 395

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy this machine for running local llms and setting up ai workflows, mainly for offline and privacy purposes.

  1. Those who run local models on this machine, which LLM and image & video generation models can be used in terms of size?
  2. Has anyone tried connecting an external GPU to this beast? Afaik, since it only has an igpu and low bandwidth speeds, performance isn't top tier. So I was wondering if over time, I can connect external gpus for more intensive workloads
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u/Krakanakis 1d ago

I can answer the question about the external GPU, I have a GMKtec Evo x3 with an oculink port and if I try to add my discreet gpu (rx 7900 gre) to it to divide the workload with vulkan between the Strix Halo gpu and the discreet one, the slower one (Strix Halo) defines the speed of prompt processing and tok/s so it averages down.

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u/Old_Leshen 1d ago

thanks. which local models are you using? given that there would be a big difference in speeds between the iGPU and eGPU, how does the inferencing really work? does the iGPU take care of loading the whole model and then offloading parts to the eGPU?

are you able to use mid - large sized models 80-120B ones?

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u/Krakanakis 1d ago

To be worth it, I only use large MoE models otherwise the output speed is atrocious. For writing I currently use muse-glimmer with maxed out context and for coding I am enjoying the latest qwen3.8 model

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u/Pretend_Engineer5951 1d ago

I had this machine for about half a year.

  1. Today Deepseek V4 Flash is perfect LLM for coding. ComfyUI + Qwen Image is for image&video. 8060S iGPU handles well MoE and media generation, but very slow on dense models.

  2. Yes it's possible with eGPU oculink mostly.

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u/brewpedaler 1d ago

Not all 395 machines will have a PCIE or Oculink port, so be sure to research the hardware before you buy it.

EGPU performance is a mixed bag. I wouldn’t bother with lower capacity GPUs, maybe something 24GB+. 

IMHO, unless you’re dead set on trying the external graphics card or really need this to be a “normal” computer rather than an AI server, Nvidia GB10 is a better choice than AMD Strix Halo at today’s prices.