can i run · seo
Yes — Qwen3 8B runs on RTX 3060 12GB
Qwen3 8B (8B) needs 9GB VRAM at Q8 vs your 12GB VRAM. Estimated ~20–27 tok/s.
Thinking-mode 8B. Fast, cheap, still beats most 7B-class models at reasoning.
best fit on this rig · weights + KV + headroom
Q8 · 9GB weights+0.4GB KV @ 8kfits GPU~20–27 tok/s
| quant | weights | + KV 8k | fits 12GB? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 5.2GB | ~5.6GB | ✓ yes |
| Q5 | 6.6GB | ~7GB | ✓ yes |
| Q8 | 9GB | ~9.4GB | ✓ yes |
| FP16 | 16GB | ~16.4GB | × tight/no |
File size ≠ runtime. KV grows with context — halve to 4k/2k if long chats OOM. Leave 1–2GB free.
ollama run qwen3:8b
Run it: 1) install Ollama · 2) copy command · 3) verify with ollama ps (want 100% GPU).
faq · straight answers
Can Qwen3 8B run on RTX 3060 12GB?
Qwen3 8B (8B) needs 9GB VRAM at Q8 vs your 12GB VRAM. Estimated ~20–27 tok/s. Model context 128k. Compare with all models or re-check with your exact specs on the bench.
What if it OOMs?
Unload with ollama stop, cap layers --num-gpu 28, cut context to 2k. See the OOM fixer on the homepage.
Q4 or Q8 on this rig?
Start Q8. Bigger model at Q4 beats smaller at Q8. Only go Q8 if 2GB+ headroom remains.
How fast will it be?
About ~20–27 tok/s when 100% on GPU. Any CPU offload drops speed 5–20× — check ollama ps.
Is Apache-2.0 commercial-safe?
Yes — Apache-2.0 allows commercial use.
also fits RTX 3060 12GB
Qwen3 8B on other rigs