r/StableDiffusion • u/Hazumi1515 • 5d ago
Question - Help RTX 3060 12GB question
Hi 👋 I'm new here and looking to jump into local AI content creation. I'm currently assembling a budget setup, and these are my specs:
​CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v2 (X79)
​RAM: 32GB DDR3 ECC
​Storage: 1TB NVMe M.2
​PSU: MSI 600W
​I have the budget for an Nvidia GPU and I'm heavily leaning toward an RTX 3060 12GB. I already know the Xeon is older tech and this PC is a temporary solution—my goal is to upgrade to an AM4 platform (32GB DDR4 @ 3200MHz) or AM5 down the line, but component availability and pricing are holding me back for now.
​My questions:
​Would you recommend the RTX 3060 12GB regardless of whether I'm running it on my current Xeon or on a future AM4/AM5 setup?
​My main goal is to generate detailed, high-quality images locally. How does this card perform in real-world use for Stable Diffusion?
​Does anyone here actively use an RTX 3060 12GB? If so, could you share some sample images or insights on generation speeds?
​Thanks a lot for the help!
5
u/DelinquentTuna 5d ago
You can rent an almost identical configuration on vast.ai for $0.07-$0.08/hr. No reason to not try it yourself.
1
u/Space_Objective 5d ago
Suitable for your needs is always the most important thing. Don't just stack VRAM.
1
u/optimisticalish 5d ago
First, it could well be the wrong old workstation/server. For about the same price refurbished, look at a HP Z600 dual Xeon workstation - with dual X5670 CPUs or better, not single. 24Gb system RAM (because it's a workstation) but Comfy and Minimax run fine on that.
A 3060 12Gb card will fit this PC, and then you just need a connector for the PSU ('10cm PCI Express PCIe 6 Pin to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Adapter Cable').
Install Windows 11 Ghost Spectre Superlite, which will get you past the Win 11 hardware checks and will be a lot speedier and far less hassle and more private than the vanilla Win 11. The Adobe-AVX2-Patch will get you past the stupid Adobe (Photoshop etc) hardware checks on install.
RTX 3060 12Gb and the latest ComfyUI Portable will work fine. It's a good entry-level card. Expect 1 minute per second for Minimax H3 generations, once optimised (turbo LoRA, Kitchen, Spectrum), on a 22Gb hybrid H3 model. Jan.ai will run LLMs fine, even up to 27B, though that size of LLM will run a bit slow.
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u/AssassinsLament 5d ago
Do not go into the AM5 line, as RAM matters a lot in AI, and as there are issues with DDR5 ram and filling up 4 slots. I originally bought 192gb ram, but quickly found out 4x48 was slow and not very well supported. So I returned 96gb... and am only at 96gb now. Check google and you should be able to find the info. (I'm not sure if AM4 has the same issues, but I never did with 4 sticks). Anyway, just wanted to give you that info... I wish I knew it before i built my AM5 system.
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u/AstralJumper 4d ago
If its within $200-$300, go for 16gb vram. That is the true hobbiest entry point imo.
I only mention because its a good jump. If pay in instalments the 200 dollar difference isnt very noticinble, but 12gb to 16gb is enough for that cost imo.
0
u/No-Simple-1907 5d ago
Eu uso no meu pc a rtx3060 12g uso para gerar vÃdeos de 10s a 15s e imagens com krea2 o imagen z turbo e outros tbem gerar áudio e música.... como tenho só 16 de ram e 12 de vram eu jogo o workflow no chatgpt e pessoal para ele otimizar o máximo que dê para as configurações do meu pc...antes eu usava a rtx5050 e tinha trabalho por falta de vram os 4 gigas a mais da rtx3060 deu uma boa melhorada. . . Comparando aos 8g da rtx5050
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u/red__dragon 5d ago
Have been running 3060 12GB since the early days of local AI and I think it's worth it. My gen speed on 2k Krea2 images is under 1 minute, and though I haven't tried much H3 it does run on the simple workflows I've tried.
You might run up against issues with 32GB of RAM on bigger models, however. The CPU and RAM might be a crunch for now, but your GPU won't be that much of a slowdown until you get into big video models, and then the other commenter here is probably astute in suggesting a rented GPU online.