Can Qwen 2.5 3B run on GTX 1060 6GB?

YES — With Offload

A70Great

Estimated from fit model

Qwen 2.5 3B needs ~5.8 GB VRAM. GTX 1060 6GB has 6.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~42 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 5.8 GB, 42.0 tok/s, Runs with offload

5.8 GB required6.0 GB available

97% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs with offload

Decode

42.0 tok/s

TTFT

4610 ms

Safe context

17K

Memory

5.8 GB / 6.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.8 GB

KV Cache2.2 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsQwen 2.5 3B on GTX 1060 6GB
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: 42.0 tok/s decode · 4.6s TTFT (warm) · 105 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

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.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

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

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	42.0 tok/s	2514 ms	17K
Coding	A	Runs with offload	42.0 tok/s	4610 ms	17K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	25.0 tok/s	11247 ms	17K
Reasoning	A	Runs with offload	42.0 tok/s	5448 ms	17K
RAG	F	Too heavy	25.0 tok/s	14059 ms	17K

Quantization options

How Qwen 2.5 3B (3B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1060 6GB (6.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	1.2 GB	Low	A72
Q3_K_S	3	1.5 GB	Low	A73
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Qwen 2.5 3B on your machine.

Run

ollama run qwen2.5:3b

Your hardware

More models your GTX 1060 6GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 4B	4B	A	31.2 tok/s
Phi-4 Mini Reasoning 4B	3.8B	S	52.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can GTX 1060 6GB run Qwen 2.5 3B?

Yes, GTX 1060 6GB can run Qwen 2.5 3B with a A grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 42.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Qwen 2.5 3B need?

Qwen 2.5 3B (3B parameters) requires approximately 5.8 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 2.5 3B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen 2.5 3B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Qwen 2.5 3B run at on GTX 1060 6GB?

On GTX 1060 6GB, Qwen 2.5 3B achieves approximately 42.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 4610ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can GTX 1060 6GB run Qwen 2.5 3B for coding?

For coding workloads, Qwen 2.5 3B on GTX 1060 6GB receives a A grade with 42.0 tok/s and 17K context.

What context window can Qwen 2.5 3B use on GTX 1060 6GB?

On GTX 1060 6GB, Qwen 2.5 3B can safely use up to 17K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Qwen 2.5 3B feels slow on GTX 1060 6GB?

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

See all results for GTX 1060 6GB See all hardware for Qwen 2.5 3B

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