Can Pixtral 12B run on RTX 3060 12GB?

YES — With Offload

A74Great

Estimated from fit model

Pixtral 12B needs ~11.9 GB VRAM. RTX 3060 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~34 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

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) — 11.9 GB, 34.2 tok/s, Runs with offload

11.9 GB required12.0 GB available

99% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs with offload

Decode

34.2 tok/s

TTFT

5662 ms

Safe context

17K

Memory

11.9 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights7.3 GB

KV Cache2.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPixtral 12B on RTX 3060 12GB
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: 34.2 tok/s decode · 5.7s TTFT (warm) · 86 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.

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	Tight fit	34.2 tok/s	3088 ms	17K
Coding	A	Runs with offload	34.2 tok/s	5662 ms	17K
Agentic Coding	B	Very compromised (needs ~1.2 GB host RAM)	17.7 tok/s	15889 ms	17K
Reasoning	A	Runs with offload	34.2 tok/s	6691 ms	17K
RAG	B	Very compromised (needs ~1.2 GB host RAM)	17.7 tok/s	19861 ms	17K

Quantization options

How Pixtral 12B (12B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3060 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	4.7 GB	Low	A75
Q3_K_S	3	5.9 GB	Low	A76
NVFP4	4	6.7 GB	Medium	A76
Q4_K_M	4	7.3 GB	Medium	A75
Q5_K_MBest for your GPU	5	8.6 GB	High	A75
Q6_K	6	9.8 GB	High	F0
Q8_0	8	12.8 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	24.6 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Pixtral 12B on your machine.

Run

ollama run pixtral

Your hardware

More models your RTX 3060 12GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen 3 14B	14B	A	18.4 tok/s
Phi-4-reasoning-plus 14B	14.7B	A	14.6 tok/s
Ministral 3 14B	14B	A	18.3 tok/s
Phi-4 14B	14B	A	16.7 tok/s
Qwen 2.5 14B	14B	B	17 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3060 12GB run Pixtral 12B?

Yes, RTX 3060 12GB can run Pixtral 12B with a A grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 34.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Pixtral 12B need?

Pixtral 12B (12B parameters) requires approximately 11.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Pixtral 12B?

The recommended quantization for Pixtral 12B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Pixtral 12B run at on RTX 3060 12GB?

On RTX 3060 12GB, Pixtral 12B achieves approximately 34.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5662ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3060 12GB run Pixtral 12B for coding?

For coding workloads, Pixtral 12B on RTX 3060 12GB receives a A grade with 34.2 tok/s and 17K context.

What context window can Pixtral 12B use on RTX 3060 12GB?

On RTX 3060 12GB, Pixtral 12B 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 Pixtral 12B feels slow on RTX 3060 12GB?

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 RTX 3060 12GB See all hardware for Pixtral 12B

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