RTX 3060 12GB vs RX 9060 XT 16GB
RTX 3060 12GB vs RX 9060 XT 16GB: £352.99 vs £407.99 in the UK (2026-10-16), £/GB of VRAM, which AI models each runs, and a verdict.
| RTX 3060 12GB | RX 9060 XT 16GB | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Brand | NVIDIA | AMD |
| VRAM | 12 GB GDDR6 | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 192-bit | 128-bit |
| Cheapest new UK price | £352.99 at Box 2026-10-16 10:55 also AWD-IT £355.95, Alternate £422.82, Scan £459.98 | £407.99 at Scan 2026-10-16 10:52 also Alternate £549.84, Novatech £566.65, AWD-IT £620.99, LDLC £774.26 |
| £ per GB VRAM | £29.42 | £25.50 |
| Biggest model at Q4 (est.) | Phi-4 14B | Phi-4 14B |
| Biggest model at Q8 (est.) | Qwen3 8B | Gemma 3 12B |
| Models that fit at Q4 | 10 of 21 | 10 of 21 |
| Software | CUDA (widest support in llama.cpp, Ollama, vLLM, PyTorch) | ROCm / Vulkan (works in llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio; fewer tools than CUDA) |
| Specs | TechPowerUp · our page | TechPowerUp · our page |
Verdict
- RX 9060 XT 16GB is cheaper per GB of VRAM (£25.50 vs £29.42), and costs £55.00 more but gives more memory.
- RX 9060 XT 16GB has more VRAM (16 GB vs 12 GB). The biggest Q4 model we track is the same (Phi-4 14B), but the extra memory gives more context headroom and fits up to Gemma 3 12B at Q8 vs Qwen3 8B.
- If you want the easiest setup and the widest tool support, NVIDIA's CUDA is still the safer pick; AMD works well in llama.cpp-based apps.
This is a value-for-memory verdict for local AI, not a gaming benchmark. We haven't measured tokens/sec.
FAQ
Is the RTX 3060 12GB or RX 9060 XT 16GB better for local LLMs?
RX 9060 XT 16GB is cheaper per GB of VRAM (£25.50 vs £29.42), and costs £55.00 more but gives more memory. RX 9060 XT 16GB has more VRAM (16 GB vs 12 GB). The biggest Q4 model we track is the same (Phi-4 14B), but the extra memory gives more context headroom and fits up to Gemma 3 12B at Q8 vs Qwen3 8B. If you want the easiest setup and the widest tool support, NVIDIA's CUDA is still the safer pick; AMD works well in llama.cpp-based apps.
Which is cheaper in the UK, RTX 3060 12GB or RX 9060 XT 16GB?
On 2026-10-16: RTX 3060 12GB from £352.99 (Box), RX 9060 XT 16GB from £407.99 (Scan).
Can the RTX 3060 12GB and RX 9060 XT 16GB run a 14B model?
RTX 3060 12GB: yes at Q4; RX 9060 XT 16GB: yes at Q4 (our estimate, ~4k context).
Prices: lowest listed new price on shop category pages (UK: AWD-IT, Box, Laptops Direct, Novatech, Scan; EU: Alternate, Caseking, Coolblue, LDLC); EU prices exclude UK shipping/import, stock not verified. Model fit: GGUF size ×1.1 + 1 GB (estimate). Other comparisons: RX 9060 XT 16GB vs RTX 5060 Ti 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