RUNLOCALAIv38
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RUNLOCALAI · v38
Will it run? / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB / long context

What can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB run for long context?

Build: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB + — + 32 GB RAM (windows)

Memory: 12 GB VRAM + 32 GB system RAM
Runner: llama.cpp / Ollama (CUDA)
AnyChatCodingAgentsReasoningVisionLong contextCreative

Runs comfortably
30 models

Ranked by fit for long context use case + predicted speed. Click a row for VRAM breakdown.

#1Ministral 3B Instruct
3B
mistral
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 5.2 GBHeadroom: 6.8 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
1.50 GB
Activations
0.10 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#2Phi-3.5 Mini Instruct
3.8B
phi
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 7.9 GBHeadroom: 4.1 GBTTFT: noticeable
ollama run phi3.5:3.8b
58
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.04 GB
KV cache
1.90 GB
Activations
0.21 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~766 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#3ColPali v1.3
3B
gemma
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 0VRAM: 3.7 GBHeadroom: 8.3 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
0.00 GB
Activations
0.09 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#4Hermes 3 Llama 3.2 3B
3B
hermes
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 5.2 GBHeadroom: 6.8 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
1.50 GB
Activations
0.10 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#5Dolphin 3.0 Llama 3.2 3B
3B
dolphin
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 5.2 GBHeadroom: 6.8 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
1.50 GB
Activations
0.10 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#6Phi-4 Mini 4B
3.8B
phi
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 6.1 GBHeadroom: 5.9 GBTTFT: noticeable
102
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
2.29 GB
KV cache
1.90 GB
Activations
0.12 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~766 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#7Phi-4 Reasoning Mini 4B
3.8B
phi
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 6.1 GBHeadroom: 5.9 GBTTFT: noticeable
102
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
2.29 GB
KV cache
1.90 GB
Activations
0.12 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~766 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#8Phi-3.5 Vision
4.2B
phi
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 6.6 GBHeadroom: 5.4 GBTTFT: noticeable
92
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
2.54 GB
KV cache
2.10 GB
Activations
0.14 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~847 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#9Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
3B
llama
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 6.7 GBHeadroom: 5.3 GBTTFT: noticeable
ollama run llama3.2:3b
73
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
3.19 GB
KV cache
1.50 GB
Activations
0.17 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#10Orpheus 3B 0.1 FT
3B
other
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 0VRAM: 3.7 GBHeadroom: 8.3 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
0.00 GB
Activations
0.09 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#11Falcon 3 3B Instruct
3B
falcon
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 5.2 GBHeadroom: 6.8 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
1.50 GB
Activations
0.10 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
#12OpenELM 3B Instruct
3B
other
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 4.1 GBHeadroom: 7.9 GBTTFT: noticeable
129
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
1.81 GB
KV cache
0.38 GB
Activations
0.09 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~605 ms (noticeable)
Model details →

Runs with tradeoffs
146 models

Tight VRAM, partial CPU offload, or context-limited.

Codestral Mamba 7B
7B
mistral
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 9.7 GBHeadroom: 2.3 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 2.3 GB headroom left for context growth
55
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.23 GB
KV cache
3.50 GB
Activations
0.22 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~1411 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
Falcon Mamba 7B
7B
falcon
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 9.7 GBHeadroom: 2.3 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 2.3 GB headroom left for context growth
55
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.23 GB
KV cache
3.50 GB
Activations
0.22 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~1411 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
Gemma 4 E4B (Effective 4B)
4B
gemma
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 8.3 GBHeadroom: 3.7 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.7 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run gemma4:e4b
55
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.25 GB
KV cache
2.00 GB
Activations
0.22 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~806 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
Qwen 3 8B
8B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 10.9 GBHeadroom: 1.1 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 1.1 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen3:8b
48
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.83 GB
KV cache
4.00 GB
Activations
0.25 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~1613 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
Command R7B (12-2024)
8B
command-r
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 10.9 GBHeadroom: 1.1 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 1.1 GB headroom left for context growth
48
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.83 GB
KV cache
4.00 GB
Activations
0.25 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~1613 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
Ministral 8B Instruct
8B
mistral
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 10.9 GBHeadroom: 1.1 GBTTFT: noticeable
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 1.1 GB headroom left for context growth
48
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.83 GB
KV cache
4.00 GB
Activations
0.25 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~1613 ms (noticeable)
Model details →
DeepSeek V2 Lite Chat
15.7B
deepseek
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 19.6 GBHeadroom: 11.6 GBTTFT: fast
  • • Partial CPU offload: ~39% of layers run on CPU
161
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
9.48 GB
KV cache
7.85 GB
Activations
0.48 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~484 ms (fast)
Model details →
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B-A3B)
30B
other
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 24.6 GBHeadroom: 6.6 GBTTFT: slow
  • • Partial CPU offload: ~51% of layers run on CPU
ollama run nemotron3:nano
13
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
18.11 GB
KV cache
3.75 GB
Activations
0.91 GB
Runtime
1.80 GB
Time to first token (prefill, 512-token prompt): ~6047 ms (slow)
Model details →

What if you upgraded?

Hypothetical scenarios. We re-ran the compatibility engine for each.

+32 GB system RAM

~$80–150

Doubles your CPU-offload working set. Helps when models don't quite fit in VRAM.

Unlocks: 73 new comfortable, 158 new tradeoff

  • • all-MiniLM-L6-v2
  • • Piper
  • • Whisper Tiny
  • • Whisper Base
Shop this upgrade↗

Upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super

~$829

16 GB VRAM (vs your 12 GB) plus a bandwidth jump from ~360 GB/s to ~672 GB/s.

Unlocks: 142 new comfortable

  • • all-MiniLM-L6-v2
  • • Piper
  • • Whisper Tiny
  • • Whisper Base
Shop this upgrade↗

Add a second NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

~$249

Tensor parallelism splits the model across both cards, effectively doubling VRAM. Bandwidth doesn't double — runs ~1.5× the single-card speed in practice.

Unlocks: 178 new comfortable

  • • all-MiniLM-L6-v2
  • • Piper
  • • Whisper Tiny
  • • Whisper Base
Shop this upgrade↗

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Won't run
top 5 popular models

Need more memory than you have. Shown for orientation.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (1.6T MoE)
1600B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (12 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.

—
Qwen 3.5 235B-A17B (MoE)
397B
qwen
Commercial OK

Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (12 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.

—
Qwen 3 235B-A22B
235B
qwen
Commercial OK

Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (12 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.

—
DeepSeek R1 (671B reasoning)
671B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (12 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.

—
DeepSeek V4 Flash (284B MoE)
284B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Even with CPU offload, needs more memory than your VRAM (12 GB) + 60% of system RAM (19 GB) combined.

—

How to read these numbers

Measured here
Measured here - RunLocalAI ran this exact combo on owner hardware with public evidence.

Source-backed
Source-backed / community - a reproduced public source supports the speed, but it is not labeled as owner-measured.

Extrapolated
Extrapolated - predicted from a measured benchmark on similar-bandwidth hardware.

Estimated
Estimated - formula based on VRAM bandwidth and model architecture; not a benchmark row.

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