NVIDIA · Turing
Best AI Models for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB)
Runs only small models well; 7–9B only just fits.
Turing 6 GB: has Tensor Cores and flash-attention (cc 7.5), but 6 GB holds only ~7B models at Q4 with short context.
| # | Model | Speed | llmrun Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 67.0 t/s | 67.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 76.9 t/s | 76.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 3 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 63.7 t/s | 63.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB | |
| 4 | Spark X2.6 4BXHToken Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB · 73.8 t/s | 73.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB | |
| 5 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 115 t/s | 115 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Reasoning Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 76.9 t/s | 76.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 2 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 67.0 t/s | 67.0 tok/s | overall | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB |
| 3 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 63.7 t/s | 63.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB | |
| 4 | Spark X2.6 4BXHToken Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB · 73.8 t/s | 73.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB | |
| 5 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 115 t/s | 115 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Long context Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 67.0 t/s | 67.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 63.7 t/s | 63.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB | |
| 3 | Spark X2.6 4BXHToken Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB · 73.8 t/s | 73.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB | |
| 4 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 115 t/s | 115 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB | |
| 5 | LFM3 1.7BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB · 152 t/s | 152 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.1 GB |
| # | Model | Speed ↓ | llmrun Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 67.0 t/s | 67.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 179 t/s | 179 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB | |
| 3 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 115 t/s | 115 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB | |
| 4 | Spark X2.6 4BXHToken Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB · 73.8 t/s | 73.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 4.3 GB | |
| 5 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 63.7 t/s | 63.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Vision Score | Quant · VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 67.0 t/s | 67.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 76.9 t/s | 76.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 3 | LFM3 Omni 2BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB · 129 t/s | 129 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB | |
| 4 | MiniCPM V 4.7 1BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB · 171 t/s | 171 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB | |
| 5 | Cosmos Reason2 2BNVIDIA Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 136 t/s | 136 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
The RTX 2060 is the quickest card in the 6 GB class: it runs only small models well. It is power-hungry for its speed, and the best speed per dollar of the cards compared at ≈$158 used. Turing generation, released 2019.
RTX 2060 strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Runs 7–9B models: Qwen3.5 9B at 39.6 tok/s in 5.8 GB
Weaknesses
- 14B models don't fit: Qwen3 14B needs 11.9 GB at Q4 vs 6 GB here
- Little room for context: Qwen3.5 9B uses 5.8 of 6 GB, 0.2 GB left
- No FP8 or NVFP4: Turing predates both; use GGUF, AWQ or GPTQ builds
Speed per dollar and per watt
On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params) at Q4_K_M. New prices are compared with new, used with used. The last two columns are the speed you get per $100 of price and per 100 W of board power; higher is better. The RTX 2060 has no new price, so the New view shows it at its MSRP.
| Card | New price | tok/s | tok/s per $100 | tok/s per 100 W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
RTX 20606 GB | about $349 | 39.6 | 11.3 | 24.8 |
RTX 50608 GBBest new value | about $460 | 45.8 | 10.0 | 31.6 |
RTX 507012 GB | about $840 | 68.7 | 8.2 | 27.5 |
RX 907016 GB | about $800 | 60.4 | 7.6 | 27.5 |
RTX 40608 GB | about $520 | 27.8 | 5.3 | 24.2 |
| Card | Used price | tok/s | tok/s per $100 | tok/s per 100 W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
RTX 20606 GB | about $158 | 39.6 | 25.1 | 24.8 |
RTX 3060 12GB12 GB | about $329 | 36.8 | 11.2 | 21.6 |
RTX 50608 GBBest used value | about $430 | 45.8 | 10.7 | 31.6 |
RX 907016 GB | about $650 | 60.4 | 9.3 | 27.5 |
RTX 407012 GB | about $575 | 51.5 | 9.0 | 25.8 |
RTX 40608 GB | about $335 | 27.8 | 8.3 | 24.2 |
RTX 4070 SUPER12 GB | about $675 | 51.5 | 7.6 | 23.4 |
RTX 4060 Ti 8GB8 GB | about $400 | 29.4 | 7.4 | 18.4 |
Cost per token: the RTX 2060 against 6–16 GB cards
On Qwen3.5 9B (9B params, Q4_K_M, 4K context). Speed, cost per token and power per token depend on the model.
- Card, used price
- $0.25
- Power
- $0.17
Renting costs as much as buying after ≈1,200 hours (≈0.8 years at 4 h a day).
Each dot is a card; hover or tap it for its numbers, click to open it. Cards without a price for the chosen basis are left out. How we calculate cost per token
Cards people weigh against the RTX 2060, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.
Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (336 GB/s). Grey rows need more than 6 GB.
- 39.6tok/s
- 14BQwen3 14B · not at 4-bitneeds 11.9 GB
- 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · not at 4-bitneeds 17.9 GB
- 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · not at 4-bitneeds 22.0 GB
- 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bitneeds 51.3 GB
- 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bitneeds 70.8 GB
Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate
All 738 models on the RTX 2060
Featured onlyBest quant that fits, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works
| Model | Quant | VRAM | Speed | Context | Score | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 0.6 GB | 436.8 t/s | 131K | S100, Runs great | ||
| Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 220.6 t/s | — | S100, Runs great | ||
LocateAnything 3BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.2 GB | 81.8 t/s | 33K | S88, Runs great | |
Intern Decision 4BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.4 GB | 68.5 t/s | 262K | S85, Runs great | |
MiMo V2.6 Distill Qwen 9BVisionCodeFunctions | IQ4_XS | 5.9 GB | 38.8 t/s | 262K | C44, Usable | |
Intern Decision 2BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 1.8 GB | 126.2 t/s | 262K | S95, Runs great | |
TwIL LM3ChatReasoningFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.4 GB | 95.0 t/s | 66K | S90, Runs great | |
Kimi K3 DSparkChat | Q4_K_M | 2.2 GB | 127.0 t/s | 1049K | S95, Runs great | |
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Bolt E4B BF16ChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 5.6 GB | 41.1 t/s | 66K | B56, Decent | |
| Q4_K_M | 1.8 GB | 149.6 t/s | 262K | S97, Runs great | ||
| Q4_K_M | 4.8 GB | 82.7 t/s | — | S88, Runs great | ||
Sevclassifier Jev Style 1.5BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 1.7 GB | 170.6 t/s | 33K | S98, Runs great | |
| Q4_K_M | 1.5 GB | 185.1 t/s | 1049K | S99, Runs great | ||
| Q4_K_M | 0.4 GB | 560.0 t/s | 2K | S100, Runs great | ||
Ornith 1.0 9BChatFunctions | IQ4_XS | 5.9 GB | 38.8 t/s | 262K | C44, Usable |
Specs
- Architecture
- Turing
- VRAM
- 6 GB GDDR6
- Memory bandwidth
- 336.0 GB/s
- FP16 (dense)
- 25.80 TFLOPS
- CUDA cores
- 1,920
- Tensor cores
- 240
- Compute capability
- 7.5
- TDP
- 160 W
- Released
- 2019-01-15
- MSRP
- $349
RTX 2060 FAQ
Is the RTX 2060 still worth it in 2026?
At ≈$158 used you get 25.1 tok/s per $100 on Qwen3.5 9B, which ranks 1st of the 8 cards compared here; it is also the fastest out of 6 cards with 6 GB. It runs only small models well; 7–9B only just fits.
What is the largest model the RTX 2060 can run?
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (7.6B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_K_M it uses 5.8 GB of 6 GB, and runs at about 43.8 tok/s. At 3-bit, a bigger model fits too: Gemma 2 9B IT (9.2B) at IQ3_M, 5.7 GB.
Can the RTX 2060 run Qwen3.5 4B?
Yes. Qwen3.5 4B fits at Q4_K_M, using 3.4 GB of 6 GB, and it is the best model that runs well on this card.
Can the RTX 2060 run 14B models?
No. Qwen3 14B needs 11.9 GB at Q4, more than the 6 GB on this card.
How many tokens per second does the RTX 2060 give?
About 67.0 tok/s on Qwen3.5 4B at Q4_K_M, with the first token after 3.3 s on a 4K-token prompt.
What power supply does the RTX 2060 need?
Plan a 350 W PSU (2× the 160 W TDP).
Is renting cheaper than buying an RTX 2060?
An RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB) rents from $0.13/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈1,200 hours (≈0.8 years at 4 h a day).