Compare · GPUs
RTX 3060 vs RTX 4060 for local LLMs
It runs 16 of 39 models fully in memory, against 14 for the RTX 4060, thanks to 12 GB of VRAM versus 8 GB. It is also about 8% faster on the models both can run.
It runs 16 of 39 models fully in memory, against 14 for the RTX 4060, thanks to 12 GB of VRAM versus 8 GB. It is also about 8% faster on the models both can run.
Every model at 8K context with the best quantization that fits. Offload assumes 32 GB of system RAM. Green marks the better result. Rows where the two differ come first.
| Model | RTX 3060 | RTX 4060 |
|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 12B | Runs~33 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~4.1 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Mistral Nemo 12B | Runs~33 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~3.9 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 0.6B | Runs~370 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~280 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 3 1B | Runs~220 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~170 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.2 1B | Runs~180 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~140 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.2 3B | Runs~69 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~52 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Phi-4 Mini 3.8B | Runs~58 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~44 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 4B | Runs~55 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~42 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 3 4B | Runs~51 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~39 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3.5 4B | Runs~47 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~36 tok/sQ8_0 |
| Mistral 7B v0.3 | Runs~31 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~35 tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 7B | Runs~29 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~33 tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Llama 3.1 8B | Runs~28 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~38 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill 8B | Runs~28 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~38 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 8B | Runs~27 tok/sQ8_0 | Runs~37 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3.5 9B | Runs~30 tok/sQ6_K | Runs~32 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Gemma 3 12B | Offload~4.9 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~4.1 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Phi-4 14B | Offload~4.0 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~3.4 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 14B | Offload~4.0 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~3.4 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill 14B | Offload~4.0 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~3.4 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| gpt-oss 20B | Offload~8.6 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~9.3 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Codestral 22B | Offload~2.7 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~2.4 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Mistral Small 3 24B | Offload~2.5 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~2.2 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Devstral Small 24B | Offload~2.5 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~2.2 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B (MoE) | Offload~8.7 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~9.1 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Gemma 3 27B | Offload~2.2 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~2.0 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3.6 27B | Offload~2.2 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~2.0 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE) | Offload~10 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~10 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B | Offload~10 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~10 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Gemma 4 31B | Offload~1.9 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~1.8 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 32B | Offload~1.8 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~1.7 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill 32B | Offload~1.8 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~1.7 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 32B | Offload~1.8 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~1.7 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B (MoE) | Offload~11 tok/sQ4_K_M | Offload~11 tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Llama 3.3 70B | Won’t fit | Won’t fit |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill 70B | Won’t fit | Won’t fit |
| Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B | Won’t fit | Won’t fit |
| gpt-oss 120B | Won’t fit | Won’t fit |
| Qwen3 235B-A22B (MoE) | Won’t fit | Won’t fit |
Which should you buy?
The RTX 3060 is the better card for local AI. It runs 16 of 39 models fully in memory, against 14 for the RTX 4060, thanks to 12 GB of VRAM versus 8 GB. It is also about 8% faster on the models both can run.
Only the RTX 3060 fits Mistral Nemo 12B and Gemma 4 12B fully in memory.
See every result on its own page: RTX 3060 and RTX 4060.
Questions
Is the RTX 3060 or the RTX 4060 better for running LLMs?
The RTX 3060 is the better card for local AI. It runs 16 of 39 models fully in memory, against 14 for the RTX 4060, thanks to 12 GB of VRAM versus 8 GB. It is also about 8% faster on the models both can run.
Which models can the RTX 3060 run that the RTX 4060 can't?
At 8K context, only the RTX 3060 holds Mistral Nemo 12B and Gemma 4 12B fully in VRAM.
Does the RTX 3060 or RTX 4060 need anything else to run local AI?
Only the software. Install Ollama or LM Studio, pick a model that fits in VRAM, and it runs on the GPU. 32 GB of system RAM helps when a model spills over, but that path is much slower.
More comparisons
Estimates from memory size and bandwidth at 8K context. Real speed varies with software, drivers and settings.