RTX 4060 8 GB
Budget8 GB VRAM · ~7.2 GB for a model
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB
- Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct~164 tok/s
- Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct~185 tok/s
- gemma-3-1b-it~204 tok/s
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All models for this device →Best hardware for running AI at home
The one spec that decides which AI models you can run at home is memory: VRAM on a graphics card, or unified memory on a Mac. Each card shows the most downloaded open models that fit and their estimated speed.
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Graphics cards
For a desktop PC. VRAM decides which models fit; more of it runs bigger models.
RTX 3060 12 GB
Budget12 GB VRAM · ~10.8 GB for a model
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
- Qwen3.5-4B~91 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct~188 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct~116 tok/s
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All models for this device →Macs
Apple silicon shares one pool of unified memory between the chip and the GPU, so a model can use most of it.
MacBook Air with 16 GB
Budget16 GB unified memory · ~11.2 GB for a model
M5, 10-core GPU
- Qwen3.5-4B~46 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct~109 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct~61 tok/s
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Mac mini with 16 GB
Budget16 GB unified memory · ~11.2 GB for a model
M4
- Qwen3.5-4B~35 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct~82 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct~45 tok/s
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All models for this device →Mac mini with 24 GB
Budget24 GB unified memory · ~16.8 GB for a model
M4
- Qwen3.5-4B~35 tok/s
- Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct~45 tok/s
- Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct~38 tok/s
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All models for this device →Compare at a glance
| Device | Type | Memory | Usable | Budget | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 4060 8 GB | Graphics cards | 8 GB VRAM | ~7.2 GB | Budget | Check price |
| RTX 3060 12 GB | Graphics cards | 12 GB VRAM | ~10.8 GB | Budget | Check price |
| MacBook Air with 16 GB | Macs | 16 GB unified memory | ~11.2 GB | Budget | Check price |
| Mac mini with 16 GB | Macs | 16 GB unified memory | ~11.2 GB | Budget | Check price |
| Mac mini with 24 GB | Macs | 24 GB unified memory | ~16.8 GB | Budget | Check price |
How we pick
Usable memory is about 70% of a Mac's unified memory and 90% of a graphics card's VRAM. Models are the most downloaded open language models on Hugging Face that fit. Speed data: ModelFit (CC BY 4.0), modelled decode estimates for a 4-bit build at a 4K context, not measured benchmarks and not an endorsement by ModelFit.
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Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons, resized): GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card: 极客湾Geekerwan, CC BY 3.0
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