Rent a GPU

Can the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB run Llama 3.2 3B?

RTX 3060 12GB × Llama 3.2 3B8K context
YesRuns fully on the GPU
Memory at FP168 GB of 12 GB
Weights 6.4 GBKV cache 0.9 GBRuntime 0.6 GB
QuantFP16Full quality
Memory8 GBof 12 GB usable
Speed~34tokens per second
  1. FP16
  2. Q8_0
  3. Q6_K
  4. Q5_K_M
  5. Q4_K_M
  6. Q3_K_M
  7. Q2_K

Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in VRAM at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 12 GB available, at roughly 34 tokens/second.

Try other context lengths

Run it with Ollama

With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Llama 3.2 3B:

ollama run llama3.2:3b

Ollama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 3.5 GB here). You have room for FP16, which is full quality: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.

Run it in the cloud

No NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB? Run Llama 3.2 3B in the cloud.

Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.

Rent a GPU on RunPodRent a GPU on Vast.ai

Memory needed by quantization

At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 12 GB the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can use.

QuantQualityMemoryFits?Speed
FP16Full quality8 GBFits~34 tok/s
Q8_0Near-lossless5 GBFits~63 tok/s
Q6_KExcellent4.2 GBFits~82 tok/s
Q5_K_MVery good3.8 GBFits~95 tok/s
Q4_K_MGood, most popular3.5 GBFits~111 tok/s
Q3_K_MNoticeably degraded3.1 GBFits~138 tok/s
Q2_KHeavily degraded2.7 GBFits~179 tok/s

GPUs that run Llama 3.2 3B comfortably

Models that run well on the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB run Llama 3.2 3B?

Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in VRAM at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 12 GB available, at roughly 34 tokens/second.

How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B need?

About 3.5 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 8 GB at full FP16 precision.

How fast is Llama 3.2 3B on the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB?

Roughly 34 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB's 360 GB/s memory bandwidth.