Question 1

Can I run Phi-3 Mini 3.8B on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB?

Accepted Answer

Mostly — NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB runs Phi-3 Mini 3.8B (Q4_K_M) with partial GPU offload. Expect slower speeds than a fully fitting card. Partial GPU offload — 3 GB VRAM is above the 3 GB minimum but below the 4 GB recommendation. Some layers will spill to RAM.

Question 2

What quantization of Phi-3 Mini 3.8B should I use on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB?

Accepted Answer

For 3 GB VRAM on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, the Q4_K_M variant is the best fit. Estimated ~46.8 tokens/sec on the Q4_K_M quantization.

Question 3

How fast does Phi-3 Mini 3.8B run on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB?

Accepted Answer

Roughly 46.8 tokens/sec for Q4_K_M. Real speed depends on context length, backend (Ollama, llama.cpp, LM Studio), and KV cache size.

Question 4

What if NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is not enough for Phi-3 Mini 3.8B?

Accepted Answer

Try a smaller quantization variant or run on CPU + RAM with the trade-off of slower generation.

Quantization	File Size	Min VRAM	Rec VRAM	Context	Verdict	Estimated tok/s
Q4_K_MBest fit	2.3 GB	3 GB	4 GB	4K / 4K	Partial GPU	~46.8
Q8_0	4.1 GB	5 GB	6 GB	4K / 4K	Hybrid CPU+GPU	~17

Can I Run Phi-3 Mini 3.8B on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB?

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Every Phi-3 Mini 3.8B quantization on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB