RigFit › Models › Gemma 3 12B IT

Best GPU for Gemma 3 12B IT (2026)

The cheapest GPU that runs Gemma 3 12B IT at 4-bit (Q4) is the Arc B580 (12 GB), currently about $330 (new, VideoCardPrices (Newegg), 2026-11-12). Gemma 3 12B IT needs roughly 8.7 GB of VRAM at Q4 with an 8K-token context. Don't want to buy? Rent a GeForce RTX 3060 12GB that fits it from $0.056/hr (Vast.ai).

Prices updated Nov 12, 2026 · model on Hugging Face

Cheapest card that fits, by quantization

QuantVRAM neededCheapest GPU that fitsPriceEst. speed*Shop
Q48.7 GBArc B58012 GB$330 newVideoCardPrices (Newegg) · 2026-11-12~33 tok/sCheck pricenew · Amazonor used on eBay
Q813.9 GBArc A770 16GB16 GB$342 usedGPU Sold · 2026-11-10~24 tok/sCheck priceused · eBayor new on Amazon
FP1624.5 GBRTX A600048 GBor rent one from $0.33/hrRunpod$4,470 usedGPU Sold · 2026-11-10~18 tok/sCheck priceused · eBayor new on Amazon

*Rough estimate from memory bandwidth, single user. Context for text models: 8K tokens. Model specs: 12.2B parameters; 48 layers, 8 KV heads × 256 head dim; sliding-window attention on 5 of every 6 layers (window 1024) (from Hugging Face metadata, fetched 2026-10-18).

Or rent a GPU for Gemma 3 12B IT

QuantVRAM neededCheapest rentable GPU that fitsPriceEst. speed*
Q48.7 GBGeForce RTX 3060 12GB12 GB$0.056/hrVast.ai · marketplace~26 tok/sRent
Q813.9 GBGeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB16 GB$0.095/hrVast.ai · marketplace~19 tok/sRent
FP1624.5 GBRTX A600048 GB$0.33/hrRunpod · Community Cloud~18 tok/sRent

Cheapest on-demand hourly prices found 2026-11-12 05:55 ET. Marketplace prices move by the minute. Compare all rental prices and the buy-vs-rent break-even →

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FAQ

How much VRAM does Gemma 3 12B IT need?

About 9 GB at Q4, 14 GB at Q8, 25 GB at FP16 (including a 8K-token KV cache and ~1 GB runtime overhead).

What is the best budget GPU for Gemma 3 12B IT?

Arc B580 is the cheapest card in our tracker that fits it at Q4.

Can I rent a GPU to run Gemma 3 12B IT instead?

Yes. The cheapest single rented GPU with enough VRAM for Q4 we found was a GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at $0.06/hour on Vast.ai (2026-11-12). Marketplace prices change constantly.

How fast will it run?

Token generation on a single GPU is limited mostly by memory bandwidth. Our tokens/sec figures are estimates (0.6 × bandwidth ÷ bytes read per token) and real results vary by backend and settings.

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