RTX 3060 12 GB vs RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB for local LLMs
VRAM decides which models fit entirely on the GPU; bandwidth decides how fast they generate. Here is how the two cards compare.
Which one for local LLMs?
The RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB has more VRAM (16 GB vs 12 GB), so it runs larger models entirely on the GPU.
The RTX 3060 12 GB has the higher memory bandwidth (360 GB/s vs 288 GB/s), so it should generate faster when a model fits on both.
RTX 3060 12 GB · Specifications
- VRAM
- 12 GB GDDR6
- Bandwidth
- 360 GB/s
- Board power
- 170 W
- Architecture
- Ampere
- Largest model fully in VRAM
- Qwen3 14B
Official specData updated 38 days agoSource: NVIDIA specifications
RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB · Specifications
- VRAM
- 16 GB GDDR6
- Bandwidth
- 288 GB/s
- Board power
- 165 W
- Architecture
- Ada Lovelace
- Largest model fully in VRAM
- gpt-oss-20b
Official specData updated 38 days agoSource: NVIDIA specifications
| Model | RTX 3060 12 GB | RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 32B | Possible but slow1.8–3.5 tok/s | Possible but slow2.5–4.5 tok/s |
| gpt-oss-20b | CPU/GPU offload41–75 tok/s | Excellent82–91 tok/s |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B | CPU/GPU offload16–31 tok/s | CPU/GPU offload23–43 tok/s |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | Excellent46–63 tok/s | Excellent38–50 tok/s |
| Qwen3 14B | Compatible27–36 tok/s | Excellent22–29 tok/s |
| Qwen3 8B | Excellent45–60 tok/s | Excellent36–49 tok/s |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct | Not recommended0.6–1.1 tok/s | Not recommended0.6–1.2 tok/s |
| Gemma 3 27B IT | CPU/GPU offload2.5–5 tok/s | CPU/GPU offload4.5–8.5 tok/s |
For each model, the highest-precision quantization that runs entirely in fast memory; otherwise the one with the best result. Speeds are ranges; "estimate" unless a benchmark exists for this exact hardware.
EstimateData updated 38 days agoSource: Run LLM Locally engine