Best LLMs for 12GB VRAM
With 12GB of VRAM, the biggest open models that fit fully in GPU memory are Phi-4 14B at Q4_K_M and Qwen3 8B at Q8_0, by our estimate (real GGUF file size ×1.1 + 1 GB for ~4k context). The list below shows every model we track that fits.
| Model | Params | Q4 est. | Q8 est. | Fits at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phi-4 14B | 14.7B | 11 GB | 18.2 GB | Q4 only |
| Qwen3 14B | 14.8B | 10.9 GB | 18.3 GB | Q4 only |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B | 14.8B | 10.9 GB | 18.3 GB | Q4 only |
| Gemma 3 12B | 12B | 9 GB | 14.8 GB | Q4 only |
| Qwen3 8B | 8.2B | 6.5 GB | 10.6 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
| Llama 3.1 8B | 8B | 6.4 GB | 10.4 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
| Mistral 7B | 7.2B | 5.8 GB | 9.5 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
| Gemma 3 4B | 4.3B | 3.8 GB | 5.5 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
| Qwen3 4B | 4B | 3.8 GB | 5.7 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
| Llama 3.2 3B | 3.2B | 3.2 GB | 4.7 GB | Q4 and Q8 |
FAQ
What is the best LLM for 12GB VRAM?
The largest that fits at Q4 is Phi-4 14B; at Q8 (higher quality) it's Qwen3 8B. Which is "best" depends on your task: coding, chat or reasoning.
Can I run a model bigger than 12GB?
Yes, with partial offload to system RAM (llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio), but speed drops a lot. MoE models with few active parameters cope better with offload.
What is the cheapest 12GB+ GPU in the UK?
From our UK shop data on 2026-10-16: RTX 3060 12GB £352.99, RX 9060 XT 16GB £499.99, RX 9070 £647.99.
Data: live listings from UK: AWD-IT, Box, Laptops Direct, Novatech, Scan; EU: Alternate, Caseking, Coolblue, LDLC (checked 2026-10-16, hourly price history), NVIDIA/TechPowerUp specs, Hugging Face GGUF sizes. Model fit is an estimate. All GPU deals · All laptops · RAM · SSDs · CPUs · All models