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NVIDIA
Used market Used budget AI
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (used)
The accidental AI starter card: 12GB and CUDA at pocket-money used prices.
Launch MSRP $329 (2021). Street prices move daily; the links open live listings. Amazon links may earn us a commission.
12GB GDDR6
Memory12GB GDDR6
Launch MSRP$329
Board power170W
Released2021
Will it run your models?
VRAM meter12GB
8B5GB
14B9GB
24B14GB
32B20GB
70B40GB
Local AI fit: 13B-14B class models. Rule of thumb for 4-bit quantized models; context length and other apps eat into the same memory.
Why you buy it
- 12GB and CUDA at the lowest used prices around
- Runs 7B-8B class models comfortably
- 170W fits any old PSU
Why you hesitate
- 1080p gaming only in current titles
- The 8GB 3060 variant exists, verify the listing says 12GB
The editor's take
NVIDIA gave this card 12GB in 2021 by pricing accident, and the used market turned it into the default first AI card: it runs 7B and 8B models cleanly, every tutorial assumes CUDA, and it costs less used than a new 8GB card. Gaming is strictly 1080p at this point. As a cheap dedicated AI box GPU, nothing matches it.
Who it's for: First-time local AI experimenters and 1080p gamers who want the cheapest CUDA card with enough memory to actually run things.