MODEL · ALIBABA · 27B DENSE
Qwen 3.6-27B
The April 2026 dense refresh that supersedes Qwen 3.5 27B — claims to beat the prior 397B MoE flagship on coding benchmarks while staying single-GPU deployable at Q4. The current dense top pick for 24 GB rigs and Mac 32+ GB.
License: Apache 2.0 · Context: 262K native, extendable to ~1M via YaRN · Released: April 22, 2026
The decision in five lines
- The call
- Buy — for chat
- Best for
- chat · docs
- Runs on
- 16 hardware picks fit (cheapest: Minisforum UM890 Pro · $463)
- Watch out
- When you need fastest possible tok/s on 24 GB VRAM — the 3.6-35B-A3B MoE sibling runs ~6× faster for comparable quality because only 3B activate per token.
- Evidence
- Estimated
- 27B dense
- PARAMETERS
- DENSE
- TYPE
- 262K
- CONTEXT
- ~17 GB
- VRAM AT Q4
Where we recommend this
Every tier slot in the planner where this model is a top or alternate pick. Pulled live from planner.js — when the planner refreshes, this table stays current.
The call
The April 2026 dense refresh that supersedes Qwen 3.5 27B — claims to beat the prior 397B MoE flagship on coding benchmarks while staying single-GPU deployable at Q4. The current dense top pick for 24 GB rigs and Mac 32+ GB.
When not to use: When you need fastest possible tok/s on 24 GB VRAM — the 3.6-35B-A3B MoE sibling runs ~6× faster for comparable quality because only 3B activate per token. Tooling is brand-new (week-old at last verify); Qwen 3.5 27B is still the proven-stable fallback.
Runner notes
GGUFs available via unsloth and bartowski. Native Ollama tag may take 1–2 weeks to land. Use vLLM or llama.cpp for long-context work; MLX-community builds for Apple Silicon.
Hardware that fits
Every hardware pick whose memory fits this model at the quant we recommend. Sorted cheapest-first — the top row is your best-value fit. Click through for the full buyer’s guide.
- Minisforum UM890 ProGood · 1.3× 32 GB DDR5 (shared) · $463–$580 all-in
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTXGood · 1.3× 24 GB · $810 used / ~$1,340 new
- NVIDIA RTX 3090 (used, single)Good · 1.3× 24 GB · $950–$1,200
- MacBook Air M5 24 GBRequires tweak · 1.1× 24 GB unified · $1,299–$1,699
- Mac Mini M4 Pro 24 GBRequires tweak · 1.1× 24 GB unified · $1,399
- Dual RTX 3090 (used)Perfect · 2.5× 48 GB · $1,800–$2,500 all-in
- Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395)Perfect · 4.5× 128 GB unified · $1,999–$2,851
- NVIDIA RTX 4090Good · 1.3× 24 GB · $2,200–$2,800
- M5 Pro MacBook Pro 48 GBPerfect · 1.7× 48 GB unified · $2,599–$3,099
- Mac Studio M4 Max 64 GBPerfect · 2.3× 64 GB unified · $3,199
- NVIDIA RTX 5090Perfect · 1.7× 32 GB · $3,500–$4,300
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 (48 GB, used)Perfect · 2.5× 48 GB ECC · $3,500–$4,500
- Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96 GBPerfect · 3.4× 96 GB unified · $3,999
- M5 Max MacBook Pro 64 GBPerfect · 2.3× 64 GB unified · $4,499
- NVIDIA DGX SparkPerfect · 4.5× 128 GB unified · $4,699
- Dual RTX 5090Perfect · 3.4× 64 GB (2×32) · $8,500–$10,500
Next step
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