Best GPU for Local AI OCR
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated October 7, 2026
Ranked for OCR and document scanning: Turning scanned pages, screenshots and photographed documents into accurate text.
Best overall: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
24 GB VRAM at 960 GB/s. It runs 37 of the models that qualify for this workload; the strongest is Gemma 4 27B ⭐ at an estimated 38.3 tokens/sec.
The picks
| GPU | VRAM | MSRP | Models that fit | Best model it runs | Est. speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 24 GB | $999 | 37 | Gemma 4 27B ⭐ | ~38.3 tok/s |
| Best value | Intel Arc B570 | 10 GB | $219 | 20 | Qwen 3.5 14B | ~29.1 tok/s |
| Budget pick | Intel Arc B570 | 10 GB | $219 | 20 | Qwen 3.5 14B | ~29.1 tok/s |
| Most memory | NVIDIA DGX Spark | 128 GB | $4,699 | 42 | Qwen 3.5 72B | ~4.5 tok/s |
Full ranking for OCR and document scanning
| GPU | Score | VRAM | MSRP | Models fit | Est. speed | Tok/s per watt | Cost per model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 79.6 | 24 GB | $999 | 37 | ~38.3 | 0.11 | $27 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | 79 | 24 GB | $1,599 | 37 | ~40.1 | 0.09 | $43 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | 78.4 | 24 GB | $1,999 | 37 | ~40.1 | 0.09 | $54 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | 78 | 32 GB | $1,999 | 37 | ~66.6 | 0.12 | $54 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | 77.3 | 24 GB | $1,499 | 37 | ~37.4 | 0.11 | $41 |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | 75.1 | 20 GB | $899 | 33 | ~32.4 | 0.1 | $27 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti | 74 | 16 GB | $749 | 25 | ~40.9 | 0.14 | $30 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 | 72 | 16 GB | $999 | 25 | ~43.5 | 0.12 | $40 |
| Intel Arc B580 | 70 | 12 GB | $249 | 21 | ~34.5 | 0.18 | $12 |
| Intel Arc Pro B70 | 68.8 | 32 GB | $949 | 37 | ~25.1 | 0.11 | $26 |
| Intel Arc B570 | 68.2 | 10 GB | $219 | 20 | ~29.1 | 0.19 | $11 |
| AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 | 68 | 32 GB | $1,299 | 37 | ~26.3 | 0.09 | $35 |
How these numbers are calculated
- GPUs are scored on four axes: capability (45%), speed (30%), value (20%) and efficiency (5%), each normalised across the whole ranking.
- Capability means the intrinsic strength of the best model the card can hold — not how many models fit, and not how fast it streams a small one.
- Speed is capped at 40 tok/s: past that, more throughput does not change how the model feels to use.
- Apple Silicon is excluded from this ranking. Those entries price a whole computer and rate a chip's package power, so on price-per-capability and performance-per-watt they would beat every add-in card by construction. Apple hardware is covered on the macOS platform page instead.
- Shares the vision hard gate but weights structured-output ability higher (25% coding) and latency higher than general vision, because OCR is typically run in batch over many pages where throughput compounds.
FAQ
What is the best GPU for OCR and document scanning?
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX — 24 GB of VRAM runs 37 qualifying models, the strongest being Gemma 4 (Withdrawn Listings).
What is the cheapest GPU that works for OCR and document scanning?
The Intel Arc B570 at $219, which runs 20 qualifying models.
How much VRAM do I need for OCR and document scanning?
8 GB is the entry point at which a model for this workload will run at all. More memory buys a stronger model, not just a faster one.
What These GPUs Run
- Best models for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
- Best models for the Intel Arc B570
- Best models for the NVIDIA DGX Spark
GPU Reviews
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX review
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 review
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti review
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 review