Intel Arc B580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

For running models locally, priced in Germany. At 64k context the first runs 5 models fully in memory, the second 5.

In short

Both have 12 GB of memory for models; the Intel Arc B580 has 456 GB/s of bandwidth and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 360 GB/s. At 64k context both run the same 5 models we track fully in memory. On the models both run fully in memory, the Intel Arc B580 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB are about as fast as each other (estimated). In Germany the Intel Arc B580 costs 349 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 309 € at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is 40 € cheaper.

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

Specifications

SpecIntel Arc B580NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
GPUArc B580GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Memory12 GB GDDR612 GB GDDR6
Memory bus192-bit192-bit
Memory bandwidth456 GB/s360 GB/s
FP16 compute116.5 TFLOPS25.6 TFLOPS
SoftwareSYCL / oneAPICUDA
Board power190 W170 W
PCIe generationGen 4Gen 4
PCIe lanesx8x16

What each runs

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

ModelIntel Arc B580NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Gemma 4 12B23tok/sQ5_K_M23tok/sQ5_K_M
Qwen 3.5 9B24tok/sQ6_K23tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 4B34tok/sQ8_033tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B23tok/sQ8_022tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B31tok/sUD-Q6_K33tok/sUD-Q6_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
Gemma 3 27Boffloadoffload
Mistral Small 3.2 24Boffloadoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32Boffloadoffload
Ministral 3 14Boffloadoffload
Qwen3 14Boffloadoffload
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8Boffloadoffload
Qwen3 8Boffloadoffload
Phi-4 14Boffloadoffload
Ministral 3 8Boffloadoffload
Granite 4.2 8Boffloadoffload
Llama 3.1 8Boffloadoffload
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 Intel Arc B580 or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Intel Arc B580 or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
At 64k context both run the same 5 models we track fully in memory.
Which is faster for local AI, the Intel Arc B580 or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
On the models both run fully in memory, the Intel Arc B580 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB are about as fast as each other (estimated).
What is the price difference between the Intel Arc B580 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB?
In Germany the Intel Arc B580 costs 349 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 309 € at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is 40 € cheaper.

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