Can gemma 3 12b it run on RX 6600 XT 8GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if gemma 3 12b it feels slow on RX 6600 XT 8GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

YES — With Q3_K_S

D37Poor

Estimated from fit model

gemma 3 12b it needs ~9.0 GB VRAM. RX 6600 XT 8GB has 8.0 GB. With Q3_K_S quantization, expect ~12 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

gemma 3 12b it at Q4_K_M needs 10.4 GB — too much for RX 6600 XT 8GB (8.0 GB). Runs at Q3_K_S (9.0 GB) with low quality. 2 quantization levels fit.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 10.4 GB, exceeds 8.0 GB available

10.4 GB required8.0 GB available

130% VRAM needed

2.4 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

7.5 tok/s

TTFT

25781 ms

Safe context

Memory

10.4 GB / 8.0 GB

Offload

20%

Memory breakdown

Weights7.3 GB

KV Cache1.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom0.8 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsgemma 3 12b it on RX 6600 XT 8GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 7.5 tok/s decode · 25.8s TTFT (warm) · 19 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 0.6 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	8.7 tok/s	12140 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	7.5 tok/s	25781 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	5.8 tok/s	48943 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	7.5 tok/s	30469 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	5.8 tok/s	61179 ms	4K

Quantization options

How gemma 3 12b it (12B params) fits at each quantization level on RX 6600 XT 8GB (8.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_KBest for your GPU	2	4.7 GB	Low	C53
Q3_K_S	3	5.9 GB	Low	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run gemma 3 12b it on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-maziyarpanahi--gemma-3-12b-it-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs gemma 3 12b it well

RX 7600 XT 16GBBudget pick

16 GB VRAM (+8)288 GB/s (+32)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.22.8 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$329 MSRP

RX 9060 XT 16GBBest value

16 GB VRAM (+8)320 GB/s (+64)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.27.5 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$349 MSRP

RX 7700 XT 12GBAMD upgrade

12 GB VRAM (+4)432 GB/s (+176)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.35.4 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$449 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can RX 6600 XT 8GB run gemma 3 12b it?

Yes, RX 6600 XT 8GB can run gemma 3 12b it at Q3_K_S quantization (Very compromised (needs ~0.6 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 10.4 GB which exceeds available memory, but at Q3_K_S it needs only 9.0 GB. Expected decode speed: 11.9 tok/s.

How much VRAM does gemma 3 12b it need?

gemma 3 12b it (12B parameters) requires approximately 10.4 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On RX 6600 XT 8GB, it fits at Q3_K_S using 9.0 GB.

What is the best quantization for gemma 3 12b it?

The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on RX 6600 XT 8GB the best fitting quantization is Q3_K_S, which uses 9.0 GB.

What speed will gemma 3 12b it run at on RX 6600 XT 8GB?

On RX 6600 XT 8GB, gemma 3 12b it achieves approximately 11.9 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 16286ms using Q3_K_S quantization.

Can RX 6600 XT 8GB run gemma 3 12b it for coding?

For coding workloads, gemma 3 12b it on RX 6600 XT 8GB receives a F grade with 7.5 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can gemma 3 12b it use on RX 6600 XT 8GB?

On RX 6600 XT 8GB, gemma 3 12b it can safely use up to 5K tokens of context at Q3_K_S quantization. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RX 6600 XT 8GB See all hardware for gemma 3 12b it

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