Architect's technical teardown: VRAM capacity, memory bandwidth, TDP, and AI throughput — compared head-to-head for local LLM workloads.
The previous generation's king. 24GB VRAM and high CUDA counts remain the industry standard for consumer AI development.
The ultimate budget entry card. 12GB of VRAM provides the vital headroom needed for Llama 3 and Stable Diffusion at minimum cost.
| Metric | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 12GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| AI Throughput (TOPS) | 1321 | 102 |
| TDP (Power Draw) | 450W | 170W |
| Est. Price | $1,799.00 | $249.99 |