NVIDIAAda Lovelace

Best AI Models for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (16.0GB)

VRAM:16.0 GB GDDR6·Bandwidth:288.0 GB/s·CUDA Cores:4,352·TDP:165W·MSRP:$499

16 GB is a comfortable mid-range tier for local AI. Most 7B–13B models run smoothly at good quantization levels, and smaller models can run at near-full precision.

This memory tier strikes a nice balance between price and capability. Popular 7B models like Llama 3 8B, Mistral 7B, and Qwen 2.5 7B all run very well at Q4_K_M quantization with fast inference and reasonable context windows. You can also fit some larger 13B models at Q3–Q4, though you'll want to keep context lengths modest. Small models like Phi 3 Mini (3.8B) practically fly at Q8 or even FP16 quality.

Runs Well

  • 7B models at Q4–Q6 quality with good speed
  • Small models (3B–4B) at Q8 or FP16
  • 9B models (Gemma 2 9B) at Q4_K_M

Challenging

  • 13B–14B models need Q3 or lower
  • 30B+ models do not fit in VRAM
  • Long context (>8K tokens) with larger models

What LLMs Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB Run?

21 models · 3 good

Showing compatibility for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB

LLM models compatible with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB — ranked by performance
ModelVRAMGrade
Q4_K_M·185.3 t/s tok/s·2K ctx·EASY RUN
1.0 GBD28
Q4_K_M·283.6 t/s tok/s·131K ctx·EASY RUN
0.7 GBD27
Q4_K_M·283.6 t/s tok/s·33K ctx·EASY RUN
0.7 GBD27
Q4_K_M·141.8 t/s tok/s·8K ctx·EASY RUN
1.3 GBD29
Q4_K_M·12.4 t/s tok/s·33K ctx·POOR FIT
15.1 GBC33

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB Specifications

Brand
NVIDIA
Architecture
Ada Lovelace
VRAM
16.0 GB GDDR6
Memory Bandwidth
288.0 GB/s
CUDA Cores
4,352
Tensor Cores
136
FP16 Performance
44.10 TFLOPS
TDP
165W
Release Date
2023-07-18
MSRP
$499

Get Started

Ollama (Recommended)

$curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
$ollama run llama3:8b

LM Studio

LM Studio

Download LM Studio, search for a model, and run it with one click.

GPUs to Consider Over NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB

Similar GPUs and upgrades with more VRAM or higher bandwidth for AI

Frequently Asked Questions

Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB run GPT OSS 20B?

Yes, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB with 16 GB can run GPT OSS 20B, Phi 4, Gemma 3 12B IT, and 930 other models. 8 models run at excellent quality, and 127 at good quality. Check the compatibility table above for the full list with VRAM usage and estimated speed.

Is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB good for AI?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB has 16 GB of GDDR6, making it very good for running local AI models. It supports 135 models at good quality or better. With 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, it delivers reasonable token generation speeds. This is a solid mid-range card for running 7B–14B parameter models at good quality.

How many parameters can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB handle?

With 16 GB, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB supports models from 3B to 14B parameters depending on quantization level. At Q4_K_M (the recommended sweet spot), you can fit roughly 26B parameters. 7B models run at high quality (Q5/Q6), while 14B models fit comfortably at Q4.

What quantization should I use on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?

For the best balance of quality and speed on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, start with Q4_K_M — it preserves ~85% of the original model quality while keeping VRAM usage reasonable. You can step up to Q5_K_M for 7B models to get better quality. For 14B models that just barely fit, Q4_K_M is ideal.

How fast is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB for AI inference?

With 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB achieves approximately 42 tokens/sec on a 7B model at Q4_K_M — that's very fast, well above conversational speed. A 14B model runs at ~21 tok/s. Token generation speed scales inversely with model size — smaller models are significantly faster.

tok/s = (288 GB/s ÷ model GB) × efficiency

Smaller models = faster inference. Memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for token generation speed.

Estimated speed on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB

~14 tok/s
~21 tok/s
~34 tok/s

Real-world results typically within ±20%. Speed depends on quantization kernel, batch size, and software stack.

Learn more about tok/s estimation →

What's the best model for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB?

The top-rated models for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB are GPT OSS 20B, Phi 4, Gemma 3 12B IT. The best choice depends on your use case: coding assistants benefit from code-tuned models, while general chat works well with instruction-tuned models like Llama or Qwen.