Qwen3 32B vs Qwen3.8 27B

Qwen3.8 27B scores higher on the intelligence index, 34 against 7. The cheapest machine here that runs Qwen3 32B is the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB, at $1,299. Qwen3.8 27B runs on the Framework Desktop, 32GB at $1,269, $30 less. The Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB is priced as the card alone, without the PC around it. On the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB, the cheapest machine here that runs both, Qwen3.8 27B is about 1.5× quicker: 30 tok/s against 20, Qwen3 32B's measured and the other estimated from memory bandwidth. At 500k tokens a day the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB pays for itself in 17 years running Qwen3.8 27B, against 150 years running Qwen3 32B.

Run Qwen3 32B on the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB · or Qwen3.8 27B on the Framework Desktop, 32GB

Ratings are coarse on purpose: they say what a model is usable for, not where it places to the decimal.

What the newer model changes

Qwen3 32B is last generation. Qwen3.8 27B is the current dense Qwen model nearest it in size, 27.8B against 32.8B. On the intelligence index it scores 34 where Qwen3 32B scores 7. It asks less of the machine: 19 GB at 32k of context against 28 GB. The weights are 16 GB against 20 GB, and the cache at that window is 2.1 GB against 8.6 GB. 30 of the 37 machines priced here run it, against 26 for Qwen3 32B. The cheapest that runs it is the Framework Desktop, 32GB at $1,269, where Qwen3 32B starts at the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB at $1,299, card only.

Qwen3.8 27B takes 256k of context where Qwen3 32B stops at 40k, which is a ceiling rather than a setting: what you actually get is whatever the machine has room for.

Side by side on the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB

The table above gives each model the cheapest machine that runs it, and those are two different machines, so nothing in it is a like-for-like race. The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB is the cheapest machine here that runs both, so this is the pair doing the same work on the same hardware.

Run Qwen3 32B on the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB · or Qwen3.8 27B

How much use it takes to pay for the machine

Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both models at the five levels of use the calculator names, on the Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB. Qwen3.8 27B pays for it sooner at every level of use, so which of them to run does not turn on how hard you work it.

Run Qwen3 32B at 20M tokens a day · or Qwen3.8 27B

Machines that run one and not the other

Qwen3.8 27B needs 19 GB of memory at 32k of context and Qwen3 32B needs 28 GB. That puts Qwen3.8 27B on 4 of the 37 machines priced here that Qwen3 32B does not, starting at $1,269.

Qwen3 32B is also head to head with Llama 3.1 8B Instruct above it on the leaderboard and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct below it. Qwen3.8 27B is also head to head with DeepSeek V4-Flash above it on the leaderboard and Inkling Small below it.

The assumptions behind both columns

Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Where nobody rents an open model by the token, its API prices are the nearest hosted model's, named beside them. Machines are the 37 here with a published price that are still sold. Change any of it in the calculator.

More head to head: every machine that runs Qwen3 32B · every machine that runs Qwen3.8 27B · every other match-up · both against the frontier · the quickest pay-back at each level of use