Can the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB run Gemma 3 4B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can run Gemma 3 4B fully in VRAM at FP16 (full quality), using about 10.3 GB of the 12 GB available, at roughly 25 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Gemma 3 4B:
ollama run gemma3:4bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 4.3 GB here). You have room for FP16, which is full quality: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.
New to this? Step-by-step setup for the RTX 3060 12GB
Run it in the cloud
No NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB? Run Gemma 3 4B in the cloud.
Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.
Memory needed by quantization
At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 12 GB the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can use.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 10.3 GB | Fits | ~25 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 6.3 GB | Fits | ~47 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 5.3 GB | Fits | ~61 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 4.8 GB | Fits | ~71 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 4.3 GB | Fits | ~83 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 3.8 GB | Fits | ~103 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 3.4 GB | Fits | ~134 tok/s |
GPUs that run Gemma 3 4B comfortably
Models that run well on the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB
Frequently asked questions
Can NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB run Gemma 3 4B?
Yes. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB can run Gemma 3 4B fully in VRAM at FP16 (full quality), using about 10.3 GB of the 12 GB available, at roughly 25 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Gemma 3 4B need?
About 4.3 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 10.3 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Gemma 3 4B on the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB?
Roughly 25 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB's 360 GB/s memory bandwidth.