Qwen 2.5 72B needs ~50.6 GB but GTX 1060 6GB only has 6.0 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.
Operating mode
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.
Select quantization to explore
44.6 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
2.0 tok/s
TTFT
96800 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
50.6 GB / 6.0 GB
Offload
90%
Usable VRAM is the main blocker for this model.
Not enough usable memory
The model needs 50.6 GB, but this setup only exposes 6.0 GB of usable VRAM.
Older PCIe generation
PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.
Add more VRAM headroom
The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 52800 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 96800 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 140800 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 114400 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 176000 ms | 4K |
How Qwen 2.5 72B (72B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1060 6GB (6.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 28.1 GB | Low | F0 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 35.3 GB | Low | F0 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Upgrade options
RTX A6000 48GBBest valueMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Raises estimated decode speed by about 310%.
~$4,650 MSRP
RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell 48GBNVIDIA upgradeMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Raises estimated decode speed by about 715%.
~$4,999 MSRP
NVIDIA A16 64GBBudget pickMakes 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.
~$6,500 MSRP
NVIDIA H100 80GBBiggest leapMakes 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.
~$40,000 MSRP
No, Qwen 2.5 72B requires more memory than GTX 1060 6GB provides.
Qwen 2.5 72B (72B parameters) requires approximately 50.6 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Qwen 2.5 72B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On GTX 1060 6GB, Qwen 2.5 72B achieves approximately 2.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 96800ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Qwen 2.5 72B on GTX 1060 6GB receives a F grade with 2.0 tok/s and 4K context.
On GTX 1060 6GB, Qwen 2.5 72B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Add more VRAM headroom. The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/qwen-2.5-72b-on-gtx-1060-6gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| Medium |
| F0 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 43.9 GB | Medium | F0 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 51.8 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 59.0 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 77.0 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 147.6 GB | Maximum | F0 |
