readygpu

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super

For running models locally, priced in Canada. At 8k context the first runs 13 models fully in memory, the second 13.

In short

Both have 12 GB of memory for models; the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB has 360 GB/s of bandwidth and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 504 GB/s. At 8k context both run the same 13 models we track fully in memory. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super is about 1.4× as fast as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (estimated, median across models). In Canada the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB costs $497 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super $1,400 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is $903 cheaper.

Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

$497

Amazon

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super

$1,400

Amazon

Add to build

Specifications

SpecNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super
GPUGeForce RTX 3060 12GBGeForce RTX 4070 Super
Memory12 GB GDDR612 GB GDDR6X
Memory bus192-bit192-bit
Memory bandwidth360 GB/s504 GB/s
FP16 compute25.6 TFLOPS71 TFLOPS
SoftwareCUDACUDA
Board power170 W220 W
PCIe generationGen 4Gen 4
PCIe lanesx16x16

What each runs

Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.

ModelNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super
Gemma 4 12B22tok/sQ6_K31tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 9B23tok/sQ8_032tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14B22tok/sQ4_K_M30tok/sQ4_K_M
Ministral 3 14B20tok/sQ5_K_M29tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B23tok/sQ8_032tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B23tok/sQ8_032tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B21tok/sQ4_K_M30tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen 3.5 4B47tok/sQ8_065tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B22tok/sQ8_031tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B21tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B26tok/sQ8_037tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B91tok/sQ8_0128tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B29tok/sQ6_K41tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.8 27Boffloadoffload
Qwen 3.6 27Boffloadoffload
Gemma 4 31Boffloadoffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3Boffloadoffload
Qwen 3.5 27Boffloadoffload
Gemma 4 26B-A4Boffloadoffload
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3Boffloadoffload
GLM 4.7 Flashoffloadoffload
Devstral Small 2 24Boffloadoffload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3Boffloadoffload
gpt-oss 20Boffloadoffload
Kimi Linear 48B-A3Boffloadoffload
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3Boffloadoffload
Qwen3 32Boffloadoffload
Mistral Small 3.2 24Boffloadoffload
Gemma 3 27Boffloadoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32Boffloadoffload
DeepSeek V4 Flashwon't runwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon't runwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Nextwon't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.7won't runwon't run
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10Bwon't runwon't run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12Bwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Coder Nextwon't runwon't run
gpt-oss 120Bwon't runwon't run
Mistral Small 4 119Bwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.5 Airwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3Bwon't runwon't run
Llama 3.3 70Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super?
Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super?
At 8k context both run the same 13 models we track fully in memory.
Which is faster for local AI, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super?
On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super is about 1.4× as fast as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super?
In Canada the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB costs $497 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super $1,400 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is $903 cheaper.

More comparisons

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super for local AI (CA) · readygpu