Is a GPU Upgrade Worth It?
The hard part of a GPU upgrade isn't picking the fastest card — it's working out whether the money buys anything you'll actually use. This tool nets your current card's resale value off the new one's price, then divides by the VRAM you gain, so you can see what a capacity jump really costs. It also sizes the PSU, projects the extra electricity, and shows the largest model each card holds.
Cost per GB of VRAM at MSRP
VRAM capacity, not raw speed, is what decides which models you can load at all. Ranked cheapest first:
| GPU | VRAM | MSRP | $/GB | tok/s (8B) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU | 24 GB | $0 | $0 | 70–145 tok/s |
| Apple M5 Ultra | 512 GB | $0 | $0 | 59–123 tok/s |
| Intel Arc Pro B65 | 32 GB | $0 | $0 | 35–72 tok/s |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12GB | 12 GB | $0 | $0 | 59–112 tok/s |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | 16 GB | $0 | $0 | 56–107 tok/s |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU | 8 GB | $0 | $0 | 28–53 tok/s |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | 32 GB | $0 | $0 | 9.0–19 tok/s |
| NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell | 128 GB | $0 | $0 | 26–53 tok/s |
| Apple M3 Max (30-core GPU) | 96 GB | $0 | $0 | 18–38 tok/s |
| Apple M3 Ultra | 512 GB | $3,999 | $8 | 43–90 tok/s |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 128 GB | $1,999 | $16 | 18–38 tok/s |
| Apple M3 Max | 128 GB | $2,499 | $20 | 24–49 tok/s |
What each VRAM tier runs
| VRAM | Largest dense model at Q4_K_M | PSU for the fastest card at this tier |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | ~11B parameters | 450W (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, 180W) |
| 12 GB | ~17B parameters | 550W (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, 250W) |
| 16 GB | ~23B parameters | 750W (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, 360W) |
| 24 GB | ~34B parameters | 850W (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 450W) |
| 32 GB | ~45B parameters | 1000W (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, 575W) |
| 48 GB | ~68B parameters | 650W (NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, 300W) |
| 96 GB | ~135B parameters | 1000W (NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 600W) |
| 128 GB | ~180B parameters | 450W (Apple M1 Ultra, 60W) |
When an upgrade is worth it
Crossing a VRAM tier — 12 GB to 24 GB, or 24 GB to 48 GB — unlocks a whole model class and is usually worth paying for. Adding VRAM within a tier mostly buys context length, and a speed-only upgrade under 50% is hard to notice in day-to-day use. Resale figures shown here are depreciation estimates; check completed listings for a number you can bank on.