RTX 5050 vs RTX 3060 12GB
How this works
RTX 5050 vs RTX 3060 12GB: £319.99 vs £352.99 in the UK (2026-10-26), £/GB of VRAM, which AI models each runs, and a verdict.
| RTX 5050 | RTX 3060 12GB | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Brand | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| VRAM | 8 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 192-bit |
| Cheapest new UK price | £319.99 at Scan also AWD-IT £355.95, Novatech £399.98, Box £404.99, PcNova £242.41 | £352.99 at Box also AWD-IT £375.95, Novatech £439.99, Scan £459.98, PCHUB.UK £269.34 |
| Price history | Tracking since 26 Oct 2026🔔 Alert me | Low £352.99 (now)at 30-day avg🔔 Alert me |
| £ per GB VRAM | £40.00 | £29.42 |
| Biggest model at Q4 (est.) | Qwen3 8B | Phi-4 14B |
| Biggest model at Q8 (est.) | Qwen3 4B | Qwen3 8B |
| Models that fit at Q4 | 6 of 21 | 10 of 21 |
| Software | CUDA (widest support in llama.cpp, Ollama, vLLM, PyTorch) | CUDA (widest support in llama.cpp, Ollama, vLLM, PyTorch) |
| Specs | TechPowerUp · our page | TechPowerUp · our page |
Verdict
- RTX 3060 12GB is cheaper per GB of VRAM (£29.42 vs £40.00), and costs £33.00 more but gives more memory.
- RTX 3060 12GB has more VRAM (12 GB vs 8 GB), so it fits bigger models: up to Phi-4 14B at Q4 vs Qwen3 8B.
This is a value-for-memory verdict for local AI, not a gaming benchmark. We haven't measured tokens/sec.
FAQ
Is the RTX 5050 or RTX 3060 12GB better for local LLMs?
RTX 3060 12GB is cheaper per GB of VRAM (£29.42 vs £40.00), and costs £33.00 more but gives more memory. RTX 3060 12GB has more VRAM (12 GB vs 8 GB), so it fits bigger models: up to Phi-4 14B at Q4 vs Qwen3 8B.
Which is cheaper in the UK, RTX 5050 or RTX 3060 12GB?
On 2026-10-26: RTX 5050 from £319.99 (Scan), RTX 3060 12GB from £352.99 (Box).
Can the RTX 5050 and RTX 3060 12GB run a 14B model?
RTX 5050: no, not fully in VRAM; RTX 3060 12GB: yes at Q4 (our estimate, ~4k context).
More details
Prices: lowest listed new price at UK shops (AWD-IT, Box, GamingKit, Laptops Direct, Novatech, PCHUB.UK, PcNova, Scan) (GPUs and laptops). Stock not verified. Model fit: GGUF size ×1.1 + 1 GB (estimate). Other comparisons: RX 9060 XT 16GB vs RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · RTX 3060 12GB vs RX 9060 XT 16GB · RTX 5070 vs RX 9070 · RX 9070 vs RX 9070 XT · RX 9070 XT vs RTX 5070 Ti · RTX 5060 Ti 16GB vs RTX 5070 · Radeon AI PRO R9700 vs RTX 5090 · RTX 5070 vs RTX 5070 Ti laptop · RTX 5060 vs RTX 5070 laptop · RTX 3060 12GB vs Arc B570 · Arc B570 vs Arc B580 · Arc B580 vs RTX 5060 · RTX 5060 vs RTX 5060 Ti 8GB · RTX 5060 Ti 8GB vs RX 7600 · RX 7600 vs RX 9060 XT 8GB · RX 9060 XT 8GB vs RX 9060 XT 16GB