Can I Run Gemma 4 on RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Desktop (16 GB VRAM, 32 GB RAM)?

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated June 3, 2026

Yes, but it is tight

Yes, but it is tight — Gemma 4 12B (Unified) at Q8_0 needs about 14.9 GB of the 16 GB usable on RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Desktop (16 GB VRAM, 32 GB RAM), leaving only ~1.1 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~23.7 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 8,192 tokens of context.

Confidence: low · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~23.7 tok/s

RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Desktop (16 GB VRAM, 32 GB RAM) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models	16 GB
Memory bandwidth	448 GB/s
Form factor	Desktop
Operating system	Windows or Linux
Memory upgradeable	Yes

Gemma 4 on RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Desktop (16 GB VRAM, 32 GB RAM): memory by quantization

Quant	Memory needed	Fits 16 GB?	Max context	Est. speed	Download
F16	26.1 GB	✗ No	—	—	24 GB
Q8_0	14.9 GB	✓ Yes	8K	~23.7 tok/s	12.8 GB
Q6_K	11.9 GB	✓ Yes	32K	~29.9 tok/s	9.8 GB
Q5_K_M	10.6 GB	✓ Yes	32K	~33.9 tok/s	8.5 GB
Q4_K_M	9.4 GB	✓ Yes	32K	~38.8 tok/s	7.2 GB
Q3_K_M	7.2 GB	✓ Yes	32K	~51.5 tok/s	5.1 GB
Q2_K	6.1 GB	✓ Yes	64K	~62.8 tok/s	3.9 GB

Which Gemma 4 sizes fit

Variant	Needs at Q4_K_M	Fits?	Est. speed
Gemma 4 31B	21.3 GB	✗ Too large	—
Gemma 4 26B-A4B	18.2 GB	✗ Too large	—
Gemma 4 12B (Unified)	9.4 GB	✓ Fits	~38.8 tok/s
Gemma 4 E4B	6.8 GB	✓ Fits	~54.6 tok/s
Gemma 4 E2B	4.9 GB	✓ Fits	~77.5 tok/s

What to watch out for

Only ~1.1 GB of headroom at Q8_0: a longer context or a second application can push this into swapping.
2 larger variants of Gemma 4 do not fit and would need CPU offload or different hardware.
This model does not publish its full attention configuration, so the KV-cache share of these figures is inferred from its parameter count rather than computed exactly.

RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB desktop limitations

The cheapest current 16 GB card, but its 448 GB/s bandwidth caps generation speed well below a 5080 on the same model.

Recommended setup

Ollama or llama.cpp (CUDA/ROCm) — vLLM if you need concurrent serving

How these numbers are calculated

Memory need = quantized weights + KV cache at 8,192 tokens (f16) + 0.8 GB runtime overhead.
16 GB of VRAM on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB at 448 GB/s.
32 GB of system RAM available for CPU offload when a model exceeds VRAM.
Throughput is a memory-bandwidth roofline estimate, not a measurement. It is labelled "estimated" everywhere it appears.
KV cache is inferred from the parameter count because this model does not publish its full attention configuration.

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