RTX 4060 for local LLMs — what fits in 8 GB & the real cost

Rent a RTX 4060 from $0.08/hr ($0 markup, as of 2026-07-02). 197 of the 445 models in our catalog fit its 8 GB — plus the honest own-vs-rent-vs-API math, electricity and amortization included.

Three honest ways to run AI on a RTX 4060

• Own it: buy the card and pay electricity + amortization — local is real money, not "$0".
• Rent it: from $0.08/GPU-hr on your own vendor account (as of 2026-07-02, $0 markup — we never resell compute).
• Skip it: run a comparable open model through your own API key, paying per million tokens (prices as of 2026-07-06).

Rent a RTX 4060 — real vendor rates, $0 markup

• Vast.ai: $0.08/GPU-hr — vendor's own price as of 2026-07-02; you pay them directly.

What fits in 8 GB

• 197 of the 445 models in the Spanvero catalog fit on one RTX 4060 at a sensible quant (context capped at 16k for the estimate). Most capable first:
• internlm3 8b instruct (internlm, 8.8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Nemotron Labs Diffusion 8B Base (nvidia, 8.5B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• LFM2.5 8B A1B (LiquidAI, 8.5B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• LFM2 8B A1B (LiquidAI, 8.3B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• MiniCPM4.1 8B (openbmb, 8.2B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• granite 3.0 8b instruct (ibm-granite, 8.2B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.17/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.03/1M tokens.
• Qwen2-VL 7B Instruct (Alibaba, 8B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Hermes 3 — Llama 3.1 8B (Nous Research, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Abliterated) (mlabonne (community), 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• LLaDA 8B Instruct (GSAI-ML, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Dolphin 3.0 — Llama 3.1 8B (Cognitive Computations, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B (deepseek-ai, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• saiga llama3 8b (IlyaGusev, 8B) — ~7 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).
• Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (unsloth, 8B) — ~8 GB at Q4_K_M; own-key API alternative ≈ $0.16/1M tokens (size estimate).

• internlm3 8b instruct — full cost breakdown
• Nemotron Labs Diffusion 8B Base — full cost breakdown
• LFM2.5 8B A1B — full cost breakdown
• LFM2 8B A1B — full cost breakdown
• MiniCPM4.1 8B — full cost breakdown
• granite 3.0 8b instruct — full cost breakdown
• Llama 3.1 8B Instruct — full cost breakdown
• Qwen2-VL 7B Instruct — full cost breakdown
• Hermes 3 — Llama 3.1 8B — full cost breakdown
• Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Abliterated) — full cost breakdown
• LLaDA 8B Instruct — full cost breakdown
• Dolphin 3.0 — Llama 3.1 8B — full cost breakdown
• DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B — full cost breakdown
• saiga llama3 8b — full cost breakdown
• Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct — full cost breakdown

Own a RTX 4060 vs rent it — the honest math

• NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB: street price $330.00 (as of 2026-07-06; videocardprices.com daily retail tracker, retrieved 2026-07-06 — lowest new listing $329.99 (Amazon); launch MSRP $299) → $0.3014/day amortized over 3 years.
• Electricity ≈ $0.1769/1M tokens at 115 W and $0.19/kWh (EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A — U.S. residential average, Apr 2026, as of 2026-07-02), assuming ~34 tok/s (8B-class model at Q4).
• vs renting: owning wins above ~5.2 active hours/day at the cheapest logged rate ($0.08/hr).
• vs API: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at $0.03/1M (as of 2026-07-06) is cheaper than the electricity alone — owning never breaks even at any volume.

Own a RTX 4060 vs rent it — the honest math

• Used NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB (used market): street price $265.00 (as of 2026-07-06; videocardprices.com eBay used tracker, retrieved 2026-07-06 (~$264.99)) → $0.242/day amortized over 3 years.
• Electricity ≈ $0.1769/1M tokens at 115 W and $0.19/kWh (EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A — U.S. residential average, Apr 2026, as of 2026-07-02), assuming ~34 tok/s (8B-class model at Q4).
• vs renting: owning wins above ~4.1 active hours/day at the cheapest logged rate ($0.08/hr).
• vs API: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at $0.03/1M (as of 2026-07-06) is cheaper than the electricity alone — owning never breaks even at any volume.

Keep exploring

• Can a RTX 4060 run it? Check any model
• All GPUs — rental rates compared
• Can I run it? Check any model against your hardware
• Free cost calculator — local vs rent vs API
• All models that run on 8 GB of VRAM
• How we stay honest

Building a local rig? Hardware that matches these numbers

• 16 GB VRAM GPU — Shop on Amazon
• 1000 W+ 80+ Gold PSU (ATX 3.0) — Shop on Amazon
• Electricity usage monitor (watt meter) — Shop on Amazon

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Open the free Spanvero advisor → · GPU rates as of 2026-07-02. Honest, $0-markup — your own accounts, we never resell compute. © 2026 Cynosure LLC.