Mac mini M4 16GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
For running models locally, priced in Canada. At 128k context the first runs 13 models fully in memory, the second 13.
In short
The Mac mini M4 16GB has more memory for models: 16 GB against 12 GB. At 128k context both run the same 13 models we track fully in memory. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is about 2.9× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models). In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $741 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB $530 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is $211 cheaper.
Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.
Specifications
| Spec | Mac mini M4 16GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 (10-core GPU) | – |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| FP16 compute | 3.76 TFLOPS | 25.6 TFLOPS |
| Software | Metal | CUDA |
| Unified memory | 16 GB | – |
| GPU can use by default | 10.7 GB | – |
| GPU can use, tuned | 10.666666666666666 GB | – |
| Operating system | macos | – |
| Processor | M4 10-core | – |
| Storage | 256 GB | – |
| GPU | – | GeForce RTX 3060 12GB |
| Memory | – | 12 GB GDDR6 |
| Board power | – | 170 W |
| PCIe generation | – | Gen 4 |
| PCIe lanes | – | x16 |
What each runs
Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.
| Model | Mac mini M4 16GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB |
|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 12B | 8tok/sQ4_K_M | 23tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen 3.5 9B | 8tok/sQ4_K_M | 22tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen 3.5 4B | 9tok/sQ8_0 | 25tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8tok/sQ5_K_M | 24tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Qwen2.5 0.5B | 36tok/sQ8_0 | 104tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3.5 0.8B | 32tok/sQ8_0 | 91tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3.5 2B | 26tok/sQ5_K_M | 73tok/sQ5_K_M |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B | 14tok/sQ8_0 | 40tok/sQ8_0 |
| Spark X2.5 4B | 10tok/smlx-4bit | 28tok/smlx-4bit |
| MiniCPM5 2B | 9tok/sQ8_0 | 27tok/sQ8_0 |
| FrogNano 4B 2609 | 9tok/sQ8_0 | 25tok/sQ8_0 |
| LFM2.5 2.6B | 8tok/sQ5_K_M | 22tok/sQ6_K |
| LFM2.5 VL 3B | 8tok/sQ5_K_M | 22tok/sQ6_K |
| Qwen 3.8 27B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 27B | won't run | offload |
| Gemma 4 31B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 27B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | won't run | offload |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | won't run | offload |
| GLM 4.7 Flash | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Kimi Linear 48B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| gpt-oss 20B | won't run | offload |
| Gemma 3 27B | won't run | offload |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | won't run | offload |
| Ministral 3 14B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen3 14B | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B | won't run | offload |
| Phi-4 14B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen3 8B | won't run | offload |
| Granite 4.2 8B | won't run | offload |
| Ministral 3 8B | won't run | offload |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | won't run | offload |
| Llama 3.1 8B | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B | won't run | offload |
| Devstral Small 2507 | won't run | offload |
| GLM 4 9B 0414 | won't run | offload |
| GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking | won't run | offload |
| GLM 4.6V Flash | won't run | offload |
| Kimi VL A3B | won't run | offload |
| Kimi VL A3B Thinking 2506 | won't run | offload |
| LFM2.5 24B A2B | won't run | offload |
| Magistral Small 2506 | won't run | offload |
| Magistral Small 2507 | won't run | offload |
| Magistral Small 2509 | won't run | offload |
| Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking | won't run | offload |
| Ministral 3 14B Reasoning 2512 | won't run | offload |
| Ministral 3 3B Instruct 2512 | won't run | offload |
| Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 2512 | won't run | offload |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATED | won't run | offload |
| granite 4.2 3b | won't run | offload |
| granite vision 4.1 4b | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5.3 Flash | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen 3.8 Flash Next | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M2.7 | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B | won't run | won't run |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen3 Coder Next | won't run | won't run |
| gpt-oss 120B | won't run | won't run |
| Mistral Small 4 119B | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.5 Air | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen3 32B | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B | won't run | won't run |
| Llama 3.3 70B | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek R1 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek R1 Zero | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V3 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V3 0324 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V3.1 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V3.2 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 | won't run | won't run |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | won't run | won't run |
| Devstral 2 123B Instruct 2512 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.5 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.5V | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.6 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.6V | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.7 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5.1 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5.2 | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5.3 | won't run | won't run |
| Kimi Dev 72B | won't run | won't run |
| Kimi K2 | won't run | won't run |
| Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 | won't run | won't run |
| Kimi K2 Thinking | won't run | won't run |
| Kimi K2.5 | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M2 | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M2.1 | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M2.5 | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M3 | won't run | won't run |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 128B | won't run | won't run |
| granite 4.2 30b | won't run | won't run |
Questions
- Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
- Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB to spend less.
- Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
- At 128k context both run the same 13 models we track fully in memory.
- Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
- On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is about 2.9× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models).
- What is the price difference between the Mac mini M4 16GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
- In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $741 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB $530 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is $211 cheaper.
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