RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060 12GB
How this works
RTX 5060 vs RTX 3060 12GB: £384.98 vs £372.50 in the UK (2026-10-27), £/GB of VRAM, which AI models each runs, and a verdict.
| RTX 5060 | RTX 3060 12GB | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Brand | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| VRAM | 8 GB GDDR7 | 12 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 192-bit |
| Cheapest new UK price | £384.98 at Scan also Novatech £429.98, Box £444.88, AWD-IT £446.95, GamingKit £307.02 | £372.50 at Box also AWD-IT £375.95, Novatech £439.99, Scan £459.98, GamingKit £333.23 |
| Price history | Tracking since 26 Oct 2026🔔 Alert me | Low £352.99▲ 5% above 30-day avg🔔 Alert me |
| £ per GB VRAM | £48.12 | £31.04 |
| 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 (£31.04 vs £48.12), and cheaper outright by £12.48.
- 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 5060 or RTX 3060 12GB better for local LLMs?
RTX 3060 12GB is cheaper per GB of VRAM (£31.04 vs £48.12), and cheaper outright by £12.48. 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 5060 or RTX 3060 12GB?
On 2026-10-27: RTX 5060 from £384.98 (Scan), RTX 3060 12GB from £372.50 (Box).
Can the RTX 5060 and RTX 3060 12GB run a 14B model?
RTX 5060: 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 5050 vs Arc B570 · Arc B570 vs Arc B580 · Arc B580 vs RTX 5060 · RTX 3060 12GB 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