NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super
For running models locally, priced in Germany. At 32k context the first runs 10 models fully in memory, the second 10.
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 32k context both run the same 10 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 Germany the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB costs 309 € at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 707 € at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is 398 € cheaper.
Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.
Specifications
| Spec | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | GeForce RTX 4070 Super |
| Memory | 12 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6X |
| Memory bus | 192-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 504 GB/s |
| FP16 compute | 25.6 TFLOPS | 71 TFLOPS |
| Software | CUDA | CUDA |
| Board power | 170 W | 220 W |
| PCIe generation | Gen 4 | Gen 4 |
| PCIe lanes | x16 | x16 |
What each runs
Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.
| Model | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super |
|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 12B | 21tok/sQ6_K | 29tok/sQ6_K |
| Qwen 3.5 9B | 21tok/sQ8_0 | 29tok/sQ8_0 |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B | 21tok/sQ5_K_M | 29tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Qwen3 8B | 21tok/sQ5_K_M | 29tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Qwen 3.5 4B | 40tok/sQ8_0 | 56tok/sQ8_0 |
| Ministral 3 8B | 21tok/sQ5_K_M | 29tok/sQ5_K_M |
| Granite 4.2 8B | 21tok/sQ4_K_M | 29tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 24tok/sQ8_0 | 34tok/sQ8_0 |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 50tok/sQ8_0 | 70tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.1 8B | 21tok/sQ6_K | 29tok/sQ6_K |
| Qwen 3.8 27B | offload | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 27B | offload | offload |
| Gemma 4 31B | offload | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B | offload | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 27B | offload | offload |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | offload | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B | offload | offload |
| GLM 4.7 Flash | offload | offload |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | offload | offload |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | offload | offload |
| gpt-oss 20B | offload | offload |
| Kimi Linear 48B-A3B | offload | offload |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | offload | offload |
| Qwen3 32B | offload | offload |
| Gemma 3 27B | offload | offload |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | offload | offload |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B | offload | offload |
| Ministral 3 14B | offload | offload |
| Qwen3 14B | offload | offload |
| Phi-4 14B | offload | 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 |
| Llama 3.3 70B | won't run | won'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 32k context both run the same 10 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 Germany the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB costs 309 € at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 707 € at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is 398 € cheaper.
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