diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 85268b14a4..4d121bf331 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -983,7 +983,20 @@ get_torch_index_url() {
         _smi="/usr/bin/nvidia-smi"
     fi
     if [ -z "$_smi" ]; then
-        # No NVIDIA GPU -- check for AMD ROCm
+        # No NVIDIA GPU -- check for AMD ROCm GPU
+        # First confirm an actual AMD GPU is present (not just ROCm tools installed)
+        _has_rocm_gpu=false
+        if command -v rocminfo >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
+           rocminfo 2>/dev/null | awk '/Name:[[:space:]]*gfx[0-9]/{found=1} END{exit !found}'; then
+            _has_rocm_gpu=true
+        elif command -v amd-smi >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
+             amd-smi list 2>/dev/null | awk 'NR>1 && NF{found=1} END{exit !found}'; then
+            _has_rocm_gpu=true
+        fi
+        if [ "$_has_rocm_gpu" != true ]; then
+            echo "$_base/cpu"; return
+        fi
+        # AMD GPU confirmed -- detect ROCm version
         _rocm_tag=""
         _rocm_tag=$({ command -v amd-smi >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
             amd-smi version 2>/dev/null | awk -F'ROCm version: ' \
diff --git a/studio/install_llama_prebuilt.py b/studio/install_llama_prebuilt.py
index 43f3362b81..3b46373eb0 100755
--- a/studio/install_llama_prebuilt.py
+++ b/studio/install_llama_prebuilt.py
@@ -1431,17 +1431,24 @@ def detect_host() -> HostInfo:
         except Exception:
             pass
 
-    # Detect AMD ROCm (HIP)
+    # Detect AMD ROCm (HIP) -- require actual GPU, not just tools installed
     has_rocm = False
     if not is_macos:
-        rocm_hints = [
-            shutil.which("hipcc"),
-            shutil.which("amd-smi"),
-            shutil.which("rocm-smi"),
-        ]
-        rocm_paths = [p for p in ("/opt/rocm", os.environ.get("ROCM_PATH")) if p]
-        if any(rocm_hints) or any(os.path.isdir(p) for p in rocm_paths):
-            has_rocm = True
+        for _cmd, _marker in (
+            (["rocminfo"], "gfx"),
+            (["amd-smi", "list"], None),
+        ):
+            _exe = shutil.which(_cmd[0])
+            if not _exe:
+                continue
+            try:
+                _result = run_capture([_exe, *_cmd[1:]], timeout = 10)
+            except Exception:
+                continue
+            if _result.returncode == 0 and _result.stdout.strip():
+                if _marker is None or _marker in _result.stdout.lower():
+                    has_rocm = True
+                    break
 
     return HostInfo(
         system = system,
diff --git a/studio/install_python_stack.py b/studio/install_python_stack.py
index 16b9877da9..48d95c9b03 100644
--- a/studio/install_python_stack.py
+++ b/studio/install_python_stack.py
@@ -80,16 +80,44 @@ def _detect_rocm_version() -> tuple[int, int] | None:
     return None
 
 
+def _has_rocm_gpu() -> bool:
+    """Return True only if an actual AMD GPU is visible (not just ROCm tools installed)."""
+    for cmd, marker in (
+        (["rocminfo"], "gfx"),
+        (["amd-smi", "list"], None),
+    ):
+        exe = shutil.which(cmd[0])
+        if not exe:
+            continue
+        try:
+            result = subprocess.run(
+                [exe, *cmd[1:]],
+                stdout = subprocess.PIPE,
+                stderr = subprocess.DEVNULL,
+                text = True,
+                timeout = 10,
+            )
+        except Exception:
+            continue
+        if result.returncode == 0 and result.stdout.strip():
+            if marker is None or marker in result.stdout.lower():
+                return True
+    return False
+
+
 def _ensure_rocm_torch() -> None:
     """Reinstall torch with ROCm wheels when the venv received CPU-only torch.
 
-    Runs only on Linux hosts where ROCm is installed.  No-op when torch already
-    links against HIP (ROCm) or CUDA (NVIDIA).  Skips on Windows/macOS.
+    Runs only on Linux hosts where ROCm is installed and an AMD GPU is
+    present.  No-op when torch already links against HIP (ROCm) or CUDA
+    (NVIDIA).  Skips on Windows/macOS.
     Uses pip_install() to respect uv, constraints, and --python targeting.
     """
     rocm_root = os.environ.get("ROCM_PATH") or "/opt/rocm"
     if not os.path.isdir(rocm_root) and not shutil.which("hipcc"):
         return  # no ROCm toolchain
+    if not _has_rocm_gpu():
+        return  # ROCm tools present but no AMD GPU
 
     ver = _detect_rocm_version()
     if ver is None:
diff --git a/tests/sh/test_get_torch_index_url.sh b/tests/sh/test_get_torch_index_url.sh
index 81da79aa32..adbdbe4e14 100755
--- a/tests/sh/test_get_torch_index_url.sh
+++ b/tests/sh/test_get_torch_index_url.sh
@@ -46,13 +46,22 @@ MOCK
 }
 
 # Helper: create a mock amd-smi that prints a given ROCm version string
+# Supports both "amd-smi version" and "amd-smi list" subcommands so that
+# the GPU presence check (amd-smi list) also succeeds in tests.
 make_mock_amd_smi() {
     _dir=$(mktemp -d)
     cat > "$_dir/amd-smi" <<MOCK
 #!/bin/sh
-cat <<AMD_OUT
+case "\$1" in
+    list)
+        printf 'GPU: 0\\n  BDF: 0000:03:00.0\\n  NAME: gfx1100\\n'
+        ;;
+    *)
+        cat <<AMD_OUT
 AMDSMI Tool: 25.0.1+2b74356 | AMDSMI Library version: 25.0.1.0 | ROCm version: $1
 AMD_OUT
+        ;;
+esac
 MOCK
     chmod +x "$_dir/amd-smi"
     echo "$_dir"
diff --git a/tests/studio/install/test_rocm_support.py b/tests/studio/install/test_rocm_support.py
index 5c45fb2ca9..da2152530e 100644
--- a/tests/studio/install/test_rocm_support.py
+++ b/tests/studio/install/test_rocm_support.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ _STACK_SPEC.loader.exec_module(stack_mod)
 
 _detect_rocm_version = stack_mod._detect_rocm_version
 _ensure_rocm_torch = stack_mod._ensure_rocm_torch
+_has_rocm_gpu = stack_mod._has_rocm_gpu
 _ROCM_TORCH_INDEX = stack_mod._ROCM_TORCH_INDEX
 
 
@@ -519,8 +520,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         mock_pip.assert_not_called()
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (7, 1))
-    def test_torch_already_has_cuda_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_torch_already_has_cuda_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """If torch already has CUDA, should skip ROCm reinstall."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -531,8 +533,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         mock_pip.assert_not_called()
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (7, 1))
-    def test_torch_already_has_hip_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_torch_already_has_hip_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """If torch already has HIP, should skip ROCm reinstall."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -543,8 +546,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         mock_pip.assert_not_called()
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (7, 1))
-    def test_cpu_torch_gets_rocm_reinstall(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_cpu_torch_gets_rocm_reinstall(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """CPU-only torch on ROCm host should trigger reinstall."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -560,8 +564,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         assert "bitsandbytes" in str(bnb_call)
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (6, 3))
-    def test_rocm_63_selects_correct_tag(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_rocm_63_selects_correct_tag(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """ROCm 6.3 should select rocm6.3 tag."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -573,8 +578,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         assert "rocm6.3" in str(torch_call)
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (5, 0))
-    def test_old_rocm_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_old_rocm_skips(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """ROCm version too old (below 6.0) should skip."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -585,8 +591,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         mock_pip.assert_not_called()
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = None)
-    def test_version_unreadable_prints_warning(self, mock_ver, mock_pip, capsys):
+    def test_version_unreadable_prints_warning(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip, capsys):
         """ROCm detected but version unreadable should print warning and skip."""
         with patch("os.path.isdir", return_value = True):
             _ensure_rocm_torch()
@@ -595,8 +602,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         assert "unreadable" in captured.out
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (7, 2))
-    def test_rocm_72_selects_71_tag(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_rocm_72_selects_71_tag(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """ROCm 7.2 should select rocm7.1 tag (capped, not in mapping)."""
         mock_probe = MagicMock()
         mock_probe.returncode = 0
@@ -608,8 +616,9 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         assert "rocm7.1" in str(torch_call)
 
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = True)
     @patch.object(stack_mod, "_detect_rocm_version", return_value = (7, 1))
-    def test_probe_timeout_triggers_reinstall(self, mock_ver, mock_pip):
+    def test_probe_timeout_triggers_reinstall(self, mock_ver, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
         """Probe subprocess timeout should not crash; should proceed to reinstall."""
         with patch("os.path.isdir", return_value = True):
             with patch(
@@ -620,6 +629,14 @@ class TestEnsureRocmTorch:
         assert mock_pip.call_count == 2
         assert "rocm7.1" in str(mock_pip.call_args_list[0])
 
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "pip_install")
+    @patch.object(stack_mod, "_has_rocm_gpu", return_value = False)
+    def test_no_gpu_with_rocm_tools_skips(self, mock_gpu, mock_pip):
+        """ROCm tools present but no actual AMD GPU should skip entirely."""
+        with patch("os.path.isdir", return_value = True):
+            _ensure_rocm_torch()
+        mock_pip.assert_not_called()
+
 
 # =============================================================================
 # TEST: install_python_stack.py -- _ROCM_TORCH_INDEX mapping
@@ -657,7 +674,11 @@ class TestRocmTorchIndex:
         """ROCm 7.2 (not in map) should select rocm7.1 via >= comparison."""
         ver = (7, 2)
         tag = next(
-            (t for (maj, mn), t in _ROCM_TORCH_INDEX.items() if ver >= (maj, mn)),
+            (
+                t
+                for (maj, mn), t in sorted(_ROCM_TORCH_INDEX.items(), reverse = True)
+                if ver >= (maj, mn)
+            ),
             None,
         )
         assert tag == "rocm7.1"
@@ -665,7 +686,11 @@ class TestRocmTorchIndex:
     def test_rocm_64_selects_64(self):
         ver = (6, 4)
         tag = next(
-            (t for (maj, mn), t in _ROCM_TORCH_INDEX.items() if ver >= (maj, mn)),
+            (
+                t
+                for (maj, mn), t in sorted(_ROCM_TORCH_INDEX.items(), reverse = True)
+                if ver >= (maj, mn)
+            ),
             None,
         )
         assert tag == "rocm6.4"