RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4060 for local LLMs
Assumes 32 GB of DDR5-5600 system RAM, Windows with this GPU driving the display, 8k context and an f16 KV cache.
What to know before choosing
Most verdicts split where 8GB runs out: CanRun counts about 11.4 GB free on the RTX 3060 12GB and 7.4 GB on the RTX 4060. Phi-4 needs 11.0 GB at 8k, which the RTX 3060 12GB holds with little margin (check ollama ps). It runs great there but spills into system RAM and runs slowly on the RTX 4060. Gemma 3 12B splits the same way; even its IQ4_XS file overflows the RTX 4060 but runs well there. Qwen3 14B also fits the RTX 3060 12GB tightly but only runs well, because thinking models face a stricter speed bar; on the RTX 4060 it spills and runs slowly.
Long context hits the same limit. Llama 3.1 8B fits both cards at 8k, but at 32k with an f16 KV cache it needs 9.7 GB, so the RTX 4060 moves part of it to system RAM while the RTX 3060 12GB keeps it all on the GPU.
The newer card does not write answers faster. Generation speed follows memory bandwidth, where the RTX 3060 12GB is ahead. Llama 3.1 8B runs great on both, and public benchmarks below put the older card ahead. With more FP16 compute, the RTX 4060 gets a little higher prompt-processing estimate from CanRun. That matters only for long prompts, and the rough (±40%) ranges overlap.
Speed
The RTX 3060 12GB generates text about 1.3× faster than the RTX 4060 (median of our estimates over the 20 models that fit entirely in memory on both at Q4_K_M or the closest available quant).
- Reference model
- Qwen3.5 9B at Q4_K_M, the largest model that fits entirely in memory on both at Q4_K_M or the closest available quant
- RTX 3060 12GB
- 51.9 tok/s measured at 32k context (1 run; 8k estimate 41.1 tok/s, 36.1–46.0, calibrated estimate ±12%)
- RTX 4060
- est. 31.0 tok/s (27.3–34.7, calibrated estimate ±12%)
- Prompt processing on Qwen3.5 9B
- RTX 3060 12GB: about 1,387 tok/s (832–1,942, rough estimate ±40%); RTX 4060: about 1,649 tok/s (989–2,309, rough estimate ±40%)
Specs side by side
| Spec | RTX 3060 12GB | RTX 4060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory | 12 GB | 8 GB | +4 GB on the RTX 3060 12GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 360.0 GB/s | 272.0 GB/s | 1.32× on the RTX 3060 12GB |
| FP16 compute | 12.7 TFLOPS | 15.1 TFLOPS | 1.19× on the RTX 4060 |
| Launch year | 2021 | 2023 | — |
| Price | $250 street (as of 2026-08-09) | $299 launch MSRP | — |
| Public benchmark results | 7 results | 1 result | — |
Verdicts at a glance
Out of 58 models at Q4_K_M (or the closest available quant) with 8k context.
- RTX 3060 12GBRuns great24 modelsRuns well11 modelsRuns slowly13 modelsWon't run10 models
- RTX 4060Runs great19 modelsRuns well11 modelsRuns slowly13 modelsWon't run15 models
How to read the verdicts
- Runs great
- Fully on the GPU at 20 tok/s or more
- Runs well
- Fully on the GPU at 8–20 tok/s; MoE experts in system RAM at 20 tok/s or more; or at least 90% on the GPU at 8 tok/s or more
- Runs slowly
- 2–8 tok/s; CPU-only; less than 90% on the GPU; or MoE experts in system RAM below 20 tok/s
- Won't run
- Does not fit, or under 2 tok/s
Where the verdicts differ
13 models get a different verdict on the two.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Model | RTX 3060 12GB verdict | RTX 3060 12GB speed | RTX 4060 verdict | RTX 4060 speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phi-4Q4_K_M | Runs great | est. 23.5 tok/s20.7–26.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowly | est. 7.4 tok/s5.9–8.9calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Gemma 3 12BQ4_K_M | Runs greatGemma 3 12B verdict on the RTX 3060 12GB | est. 32.2 tok/s28.3–36.0calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowlyGemma 3 12B verdict on the RTX 4060 | est. 16.7 tok/s13.4–20.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Mellum2.1 12B-A2.5B ThinkingQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 124.9 tok/s99.9–149.9calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs well | est. 74.5 tok/s52.2–96.9theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Gemma 4 12BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 34.7 tok/s30.6–38.9calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs well | est. 21.9 tok/s17.6–26.3calibrated estimate ±20% |
| K2-Horizon 7BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 37.1 tok/s32.6–41.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs well | est. 28.0 tok/s24.6–31.4calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Qwen3 14BQ4_K_M | est. 24.4 tok/s21.4–27.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowlyQwen3 14B verdict on the RTX 4060 | est. 8.1 tok/s6.5–9.7calibrated estimate ±20% | |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 23.8 tok/s20.9–26.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowly | est. 7.6 tok/s6.1–9.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| HyperCLOVA X SEED Think 14BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 24.7 tok/s17.3–32.1theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs slowly | est. 8.4 tok/s5.9–10.9theoretical estimate ±30% |
| EXAONE 4.5 33BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.8 tok/s3.0–4.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry IQ4_XS: Runs slowly | est. 3.3 tok/s2.6–3.9calibrated estimate ±20% |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.2 tok/s2.5–3.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 4.4 tok/s3.5–5.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.2 tok/s2.6–3.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 4.4 tok/s3.5–5.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| EXAONE 4.0 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 4.0 tok/s3.2–4.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry IQ4_XS: Runs slowly | est. 3.5 tok/s2.8–4.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Granite 4.2 30BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.8 tok/s3.0–4.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 5.1 tok/s4.1–6.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
Every model on both
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Model | RTX 3060 12GB verdict | RTX 3060 12GB speed | RTX 4060 verdict | RTX 4060 speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phi-4Q4_K_M | Runs great | est. 23.5 tok/s20.7–26.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowly | est. 7.4 tok/s5.9–8.9calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Gemma 3 12BQ4_K_M | Runs greatGemma 3 12B verdict on the RTX 3060 12GB | est. 32.2 tok/s28.3–36.0calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowlyGemma 3 12B verdict on the RTX 4060 | est. 16.7 tok/s13.4–20.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Mellum2.1 12B-A2.5B ThinkingQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 124.9 tok/s99.9–149.9calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs well | est. 74.5 tok/s52.2–96.9theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Gemma 4 12BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 34.7 tok/s30.6–38.9calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs well | est. 21.9 tok/s17.6–26.3calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3.5 9BQ4_K_M | Runs great | 51.9 tok/s8k estimate 41.1 tok/s (36.1–46.0, calibrated estimate ±12%)measured (1 run, 32k context) | Runs great | est. 31.0 tok/s27.3–34.7calibrated estimate ±12% |
| K2-Horizon 7BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 37.1 tok/s32.6–41.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs well | est. 28.0 tok/s24.6–31.4calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Qwen3 8BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 40.4 tok/s35.6–45.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 30.5 tok/s26.9–34.2calibrated estimate ±12% |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 40.4 tok/s35.6–45.2calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 30.5 tok/s26.9–34.2calibrated estimate ±12% |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 42.0 tok/s37.0–47.1calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 31.8 tok/s28.0–35.6calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Kanana 1.5 8BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 42.0 tok/s37.0–47.1calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 31.8 tok/s28.0–35.6calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Llama 3.1 8BQ4_K_M | 51.6 tok/s8k estimate 42.0 tok/s (37.0–47.1, calibrated estimate ±12%)measured (1 run, 4k context) | Runs greatLlama 3.1 8B verdict on the RTX 4060 | 38.1 tok/s8k estimate 31.8 tok/s (28.0–35.6, calibrated estimate ±12%)measured (1 run, 4k context) | |
| Gemma 4 E4BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 71.7 tok/s50.2–93.2theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs great | est. 55.5 tok/s38.8–72.1theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Ling-3.0 TinyQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 216.2 tok/s151.3–281.1theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs great | est. 176.6 tok/s123.6–229.6theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Gemma 4 E2BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 133.3 tok/s93.3–173.3theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs great | est. 105.3 tok/s73.7–137.0theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Qwen3.5 4BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 81.3 tok/s71.6–91.1calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 61.5 tok/s54.1–68.8calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Nanbeige4.2 3BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 41.1 tok/s28.8–53.5theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs great | est. 31.1 tok/s21.8–40.4theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Spark-X2.5 4BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 86.8 tok/s76.4–97.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 65.6 tok/s57.7–73.5calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Llama 3.2 3BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 85.1 tok/s74.9–95.4calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 64.3 tok/s56.6–72.1calibrated estimate ±12% |
| LFM2.5 2.6BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 139.7 tok/s97.8–181.6theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs great | est. 105.5 tok/s73.9–137.2theoretical estimate ±30% |
| MiniCPM5 2BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 131.8 tok/s116.0–147.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 99.6 tok/s87.6–111.5calibrated estimate ±12% |
| HyperCLOVA X SEED 1.5BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 138.8 tok/s122.2–155.5calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 104.9 tok/s92.3–117.5calibrated estimate ±12% |
| EXAONE 4.0 1.2BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 191.9 tok/s168.9–214.9calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 145.0 tok/s127.6–162.4calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Llama 3.2 1BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 233.7 tok/s205.6–261.7calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 176.6 tok/s155.4–197.7calibrated estimate ±12% |
| MiniCPM5 1BQ4_K_M | Runs great | est. 282.7 tok/s248.8–316.7calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs great | est. 213.6 tok/s188.0–239.2calibrated estimate ±12% |
| Qwen3.5 35B-A3BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 49.4 tok/s34.6–64.2theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 39.3 tok/s27.5–51.1theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 54.7 tok/s38.3–71.1theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 43.6 tok/s30.5–56.6theoretical estimate ±30% |
| MiniCPM-V 4.7 35B-A3BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 58.4 tok/s40.9–75.9theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 45.9 tok/s32.1–59.6theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 40.2 tok/s28.2–52.3theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 32.6 tok/s22.8–42.3theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B (2507)Q4_K_M | est. 42.0 tok/s29.4–54.6theoretical estimate ±30% | est. 32.4 tok/s22.6–42.1theoretical estimate ±30% | ||
| Gemma 4 26B-A4BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 40.7 tok/s28.5–53.0theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 30.6 tok/s21.4–39.7theoretical estimate ±30% |
| gpt-oss-20bMXFP4 | est. 63.9 tok/s44.8–83.1theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs wellgpt-oss-20b verdict on the RTX 4060 | est. 36.9 tok/s25.9–48.0theoretical estimate ±30% | |
| Kanana 1.5 15.7B-A3BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 64.3 tok/s45.0–83.5theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs well | est. 35.5 tok/s24.9–46.2theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Qwen3 14BQ4_K_M | est. 24.4 tok/s21.4–27.3calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowlyQwen3 14B verdict on the RTX 4060 | est. 8.1 tok/s6.5–9.7calibrated estimate ±20% | |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 23.8 tok/s20.9–26.6calibrated estimate ±12% | Runs slowly | est. 7.6 tok/s6.1–9.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| HyperCLOVA X SEED Think 14BQ4_K_M | Runs well | est. 24.7 tok/s17.3–32.1theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs slowly | est. 8.4 tok/s5.9–10.9theoretical estimate ±30% |
| K2-Horizon MoVA 36B-A4BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 24.1 tok/s16.9–31.3theoretical estimate ±30% | Runs slowly | est. 9.6 tok/s6.7–12.5theoretical estimate ±30% |
| EXAONE 4.5 33BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.8 tok/s3.0–4.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry IQ4_XS: Runs slowly | est. 3.3 tok/s2.6–3.9calibrated estimate ±20% |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.2 tok/s2.5–3.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 4.4 tok/s3.5–5.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.2 tok/s2.6–3.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 4.4 tok/s3.5–5.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| EXAONE 4.0 32BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 4.0 tok/s3.2–4.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry IQ4_XS: Runs slowly | est. 3.5 tok/s2.8–4.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Gemma 4 31BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 4.3 tok/s3.5–5.2calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.2 tok/s2.5–3.8calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Muse Glimmer 30BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 5.2 tok/s4.2–6.3calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.7 tok/s2.9–4.4calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Granite 4.2 30BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 3.8 tok/s3.0–4.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 5.1 tok/s4.1–6.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3.5 27BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 5.0 tok/s4.0–6.0calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.5 tok/s2.8–4.2calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3.6 27BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 5.2 tok/s4.2–6.2calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.6 tok/s2.9–4.3calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Qwen3.8 27BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 4.8 tok/s3.9–5.8calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.4 tok/s2.8–4.1calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Gemma 3 27BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 5.2 tok/s4.2–6.3calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 3.6 tok/s2.9–4.4calibrated estimate ±20% |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24BQ4_K_M | Runs slowly | est. 6.3 tok/s5.0–7.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Runs slowly | est. 4.0 tok/s3.2–4.8calibrated estimate ±20% |
| GLM-5.3 FlashQ4_K_M | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731MXFP4 | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| Solar Open 2 250BIQ4_XS | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| Ling-3.0 FlashQ4_K_M | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10BQ4_K_M | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| Laguna S 2.1Q4_K_M | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| gpt-oss-120bMXFP4 | — | Won't rungpt-oss-120b verdict on the RTX 4060 | — | |
| Solar Open 100BQ4_K_M | Won't run | — | Won't run | — |
| Kolibri 1Q4_K_M | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well | est. 53.1 tok/s37.2–69.0theoretical estimate ±30% | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well | est. 43.5 tok/s30.5–56.6theoretical estimate ±30% |
| Llama 3.3 70BQ4_K_M | Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly | est. 2.1 tok/s1.7–2.5calibrated estimate ±20% | Won't run | — |
Models with a thinking mode spend extra tokens thinking, so their speed thresholds are 1.5× stricter (30 / 12 / 3 tok/s). With thinking turned off, a model may do one grade better.
Public benchmarks
Measured results on the RTX 3060 12GB
| Model | Quant | Backend | Context | Prompt (tok/s) | Generation (tok/s) | Flags | Source | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| llama-2-7b | Q4_0 | llama.cpp | 512 | 2,138.0 | 75.6 | — | github.com | 2025-08-21 |
| Qwen3 8B | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 16k | — | 42.0 | — | hardware-corner.net | 2026-08-09 |
| Llama 3.1 8B | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 4k | 1,488.0 | 51.6 | ctx-weighted | localscore.ai | 2026-08-09 |
| qwen2.5-14b | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 4k | 753.0 | 26.4 | ctx-weighted | localscore.ai | 2026-08-09 |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 4k | — | 52.0 | --n-cpu-moe, DDR5 | openclawdc.com | 2026-07-15 |
| Qwen3.5 9B | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 32k | 1,458.0 | 51.9 | KV q4_0 | localmaxxing.com | 2026-08-18 |
| Qwen3 8B | Q4_K_XL | llama.cpp | 4k | 1,697.0 | 55.2 | CUDA | hardware-corner.net | 2025-12-09 |
Measured results on the RTX 4060
| Model | Quant | Backend | Context | Prompt (tok/s) | Generation (tok/s) | Flags | Source | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 4k | 1,528.0 | 38.1 | ctx-weighted | localscore.ai | 2026-08-09 |
Public benchmarks we calibrate against. Their conditions (context, backend, flags) can differ from the estimates above.
Frequently asked questions
Which is faster for local LLMs, the RTX 3060 12GB or the RTX 4060?
The RTX 3060 12GB generates text about 1.3× faster than the RTX 4060 (median of our estimates over the 20 models that fit entirely in memory on both at Q4_K_M or the closest available quant). Estimated speed on Qwen3.5 9B at Q4_K_M: the RTX 3060 12GB 51.9 tok/s measured at 32k context (1 run; 8k estimate 41.1 tok/s, 36.1–46.0, calibrated estimate ±12%); the RTX 4060 est. 31.0 tok/s (27.3–34.7, calibrated estimate ±12%).
What is the largest model each can run entirely in memory?
The RTX 3060 12GB fits Kanana 1.5 15.7B-A3B at IQ4_XS (8.71 GB file) entirely in 12 GB, at est. 79.6 tok/s (63.7–95.5, calibrated estimate ±20%). The RTX 4060 fits Gemma 4 12B at IQ4_XS (6.38 GB file) entirely in 8 GB, at est. 29.2 tok/s (25.7–32.7, calibrated estimate ±12%).
How many local LLMs run well on each?
At Q4_K_M with 8k context, out of 58 tracked models: the RTX 3060 12GB — 24 Runs great, 11 Runs well, 13 Runs slowly, 10 Won't run; the RTX 4060 — 19 Runs great, 11 Runs well, 13 Runs slowly, 15 Won't run. 13 models get a different verdict.
Speeds are estimates from memory bandwidth, calibrated against public benchmarks, and each one comes with an error band and a confidence label. Real results vary with drivers, backend, context length and thermals.