Best local AI models for NVIDIA GTX 1060 Laptop
6 GB GDDR5. At a 4k context, 114 of the 233 models in our catalog with verified parameter counts fit fully, up to Granite 3.3 2B / 8B at 8B parameters.
Check your own machine against every model →The largest models that fit fully
The 30 largest of the 114 models that fit; every smaller model in the catalog fits too. Best quant means the highest quality compression whose weights and 4k context both sit inside the memory.
| Model | Parameters | Best quant that fits | Memory used at 4k |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granite 3.3 2B / 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Ministral 3B / 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| InternLM 3 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| OpenCoder 1.5B / 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Seed-Coder 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| MiniCPM-V 2.6 / MiniCPM-o 2.6 | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Idefics 3 8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Fuyu-8B | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Emu3 | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large / Turbo | 8B | Q4_K_M | 5.9 GB |
| EXAONE 3.5 2.4B / 7.8B | 7.8B | Q4_K_M | 5.7 GB |
| Mistral 7B | 7B | Q4_K_M | 5.7 GB |
| Qwen2.5 0.5B / 1.5B / 3B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| OLMo 2 1B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Falcon 3 1B / 3B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Command R7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| OpenHermes 2.5 | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Zephyr 7B Beta | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| OpenChat 3.5 | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Starling LM 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Codestral Mamba 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| CodeGemma 2B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| aiXcoder-7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Nxcode / CodeQwen 1.5 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Janus-Pro 1B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Ruyi-Mini-7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Qwen2-Audio 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Qwen2.5-Omni 3B / 7B | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| YuE | 7B | Q5_K_M | 6 GB |
| Magicoder-S-DS 6.7B | 6.7B | Q5_K_M | 5.7 GB |
Close, but only with CPU offload
These need more than the card holds at their smallest practical quant, so part of the model runs from system memory (figures assume 32 GB of it). They work, several times slower.
| Model | Parameters | Memory at Q4_K_M | System RAM at 4k |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B | 8B | 6.4 GB needed | 8.4 GB |
| Chroma | 8.9B | 6.5 GB needed | 8.5 GB |
| Gemma 2 9B | 9B | 8 GB needed | 10 GB |
| Nemotron Nano 4B / 9B | 9B | 6.6 GB needed | 8.6 GB |
| GLM-4 9B / GLM-4.5-Air | 9B | 6.6 GB needed | 8.6 GB |
| Yi-Coder 1.5B / 9B | 9B | 6.6 GB needed | 8.6 GB |
| GLM-4-9B-Chat / CodeGeeX4 | 9B | 6.6 GB needed | 8.6 GB |
| GLM-4V-9B / GLM-4.1V-Thinking | 9B | 6.6 GB needed | 8.6 GB |
| Mochi 1 | 10B | 7.3 GB needed | 9.3 GB |
| Open-Sora 2.0 | 11B | 8.1 GB needed | 10.1 GB |
How to read this
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Laptop graphics card features 6 GB of GDDR5 video memory. This memory size determines which artificial intelligence models you can run entirely on your graphics hardware. To run a model smoothly, the model files and the active memory space must fit within this 6 GB limit.
The quantization column shows the compression level used to shrink these models. We recommend the Q4_K_M or Q5_K_M quantization levels for this hardware. A Q4_K_M quant reduces the model size to about four bits per parameter. A Q5_K_M quant uses about five bits per parameter. These quants keep the model small enough to fit your video memory while preserving high output quality.
Several 8B models fit inside your video memory at the Q4_K_M quantization level. Granite 3.3 8B, Ministral 8B, InternLM 3 8B, OpenCoder 8B, Seed-Coder 8B, MiniCPM-V 2.6, Idefics 3 8B, Fuyu-8B, Emu3, and Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large use 5.9 GB of video memory. EXAONE 3.5 7.8B and Mistral 7B fit at Q4_K_M using 5.7 GB of video memory.
You can run many 7B models at the higher Q5_K_M quantization level. Qwen2.5 7B, OLMo 2 7B, Falcon 3 7B, Command R7B, OpenHermes 2.5, Zephyr 7B Beta, OpenChat 3.5, Starling LM 7B, Codestral Mamba 7B, CodeGemma 7B, aiXcoder-7B, CodeQwen 1.5 7B, Janus-Pro 7B, Ruyi-Mini-7B, Qwen2-Audio 7B, Qwen2.5-Omni 7B, and YuE use exactly 6 GB of video memory. Magicoder-S-DS 6.7B uses 5.7 GB of video memory at Q5_K_M.
When a model exceeds 6 GB of video memory, you must offload the remaining data to your system RAM. This offload process requires a system with 32 GB of system RAM. Offloading allows you to run larger models, but it reduces your processing speed because system RAM is slower than video memory.
For example, Llama 3.1 8B needs 6.4 GB at Q4_K_M and requires 8.4 GB of system RAM. Chroma 8.9B needs 6.5 GB at Q4_K_M and requires 8.5 GB of system RAM. Gemma 2 9B needs 8 GB at Q4_K_M and requires 10 GB of system RAM. Nemotron Nano 9B, GLM-4 9B, Yi-Coder 9B, GLM-4-9B-Chat, and GLM-4V-9B all need 6.6 GB at Q4_K_M and require 8.6 GB of system RAM. Mochi 1 10B needs 7.3 GB at Q4_K_M and requires 9.3 GB of system RAM. Open-Sora 2.0 11B needs 8.1 GB at Q4_K_M and requires 10.1 GB of system RAM.
Be aware of the context limit when running these models. The memory calculations assume a standard 4k context window. If you increase the context window to process longer documents, the model will require more video memory. This extra memory usage can cause the model to exceed your 6 GB limit and slow down.