Can the RTX 3060 12 GB run Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large?
Yes, but only just: Q8_0 leaves 0.9 GB free on the RTX 3060 12 GB.
Q8_0 (8.8 GB) fits with only 0.9 GB to spare (about 11.1 GB of 12 GB).
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | sd3.5_large-Q8_0.gguf Q8_0 · city96/stable-diffusion-3.5-large-gguf | models/unet | 8.8 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | t5xxl_fp8_e4m3fn.safetensors T5-XXL FP8 · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 4.9 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | clip_l.safetensors CLIP-L · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 0.2 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | clip_g.safetensors CLIP-G · Comfy-Org/stable-diffusion-3.5-fp8 | models/text_encoders | 1.4 GB | Download → |
| VAE | diffusion_pytorch_model.safetensors SD 3.5 VAE (gated repo: log in and accept the licence first) · stabilityai/stable-diffusion-3.5-large | models/vae | 0.2 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 15.5 GB | |||
Alternatives: T5-XXL FP16 (9.8 GB). Sizes from Hugging Face, 2026-10-01.
02Every SD 3.5 Large file on 12 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit SAFETENSORS · stabilityai | 16.5 GB | 18.8 GB | 6.8 GB too big | the original weights | Hugging Face → |
| Q8_0 ← GGUF · city96 | 8.8 GB | 11.1 GB | fits · 0.9 GB spare | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_1 GGUF · city96 | 6.3 GB | 8.6 GB | fits · 3.4 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_1 GGUF · city96 | 5.3 GB | 7.6 GB | fits · 4.4 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
“Needed” adds 1.5 GB of working memory for SD 3.5 Large and a 0.8 GB reserve. Sizes 2026-10-01.
03Measured and reported results
Nobody has sent measured numbers for this pair yet. If you run SD 3.5 Large on a RTX 3060 12 GB, send your time per image and peak VRAM and it will appear here, credited.
04About the RTX 3060 12 GB
The RTX 3060 12 GB (Ampere) has no FP8 compute. FP8 files still load and save memory, but ComfyUI converts them back before the maths, so there is no speed gain - Q8_0 GGUF is the closer-to-original 8-bit choice. ComfyUI can compute INT8 files natively on NVIDIA, which is worth a try where a model offers one.
12 GB GDDR6 · 192-bit · 360 GB/s · Ampere. Everything that runs on it →
05Questions
How much VRAM does SD 3.5 Large need?
Around 7.6 GB with the smallest file (Q4_1) and 11.1 GB with an 8-bit file (Q8_0). The full 16-bit file needs about 18.8 GB.
Which SD 3.5 Large file should I download for the RTX 3060 12 GB?
Q8_0 (8.8 GB) from city96/stable-diffusion-3.5-large-gguf. Load it with Unet Loader (GGUF) from the ComfyUI-GGUF node pack.
How much do I need to download for SD 3.5 Large on the RTX 3060 12 GB?
15.5 GB: sd3.5_large-Q8_0.gguf, t5xxl_fp8_e4m3fn.safetensors, clip_l.safetensors, clip_g.safetensors, diffusion_pytorch_model.safetensors.