local intelligence

will it local

Best local LLMs for the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super

6GB · Turing TU116

GTX Turing die with tensor cores fused off - do not expect RTX-class prefill. 6GB is the defining wall in 2026; modern 8B default context metadata can blow past VRAM - always pass explicit -c.

explore the full catalogupgrade paths with live prices · what fits on each machine

Speed

computed band 31.0-47.0 tok/s for 8B Q4_K_M (roofline, 336 GB/s VRAM); community: 30-40 tok/s 1.5B-7B class Q4 (kb-audit-0903); community: 7-10 tok/s 7B Q4 partial offload (kb-audit-0903)

Effective decode window: 0.48–0.72 of 336 GB/s nominal → ~161–242 GB/s effective (llama.cpp decode, Q4_K_M basis; arch window, community-calibrated)

What fits (computed)

13b-q4 no 14.6 GB vs 6 GB usable — does not fit

3b-q4 full 2.8 GB needed of 6 GB usable — headroom for context

4b-q4 full 3.7 GB needed of 6 GB usable — headroom for context

8b-q4 tight 6.1 of 6 GB usable — barely over; real with q8 KV cache (halves KV) or shorter context

Cited community benches (2 rows)

→ 30-40 tok/s · 1.5B-7B class Q4 non-Super 1660 measured proxy · kb-audit-0903

→ 7-10 tok/s · 7B Q4 partial offload community · kb-audit-0903

Runs fully in memory (machine alternatives)

Nominal bandwidth: 336 GB/s — see the effective decode window above

qwen3:0.6b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 0.6B · 0.6GB · needs ~1GB (4k ctx)

qwen3:1.7b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 1.7B · 1.4GB · needs ~1.8GB (4k ctx)

qwen3:4b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 4B · 2.6GB · needs ~3.2GB (4k ctx)

llama3.2:1b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 1B · 1.3GB · needs ~1.4GB (4k ctx)

llama3.2:3b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 3B · 2.0GB · needs ~2.4GB (4k ctx)

gemma3:1b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 1B · 1.0GB · needs ~1.1GB (4k ctx)

phi4:mini on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) mini 3.8B · 2.5GB · needs ~3GB (4k ctx)

moondream:2b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 2B · 1.7GB · needs ~3.7GB (4k ctx)

whisper:tiny on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) tiny · 0.1GB · needs ~2.1GB (4k ctx)

whisper on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) base · 0.3GB · needs ~2.3GB (4k ctx)

whisper:small on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) small · 0.9GB · needs ~2.9GB (4k ctx)

whisper:medium on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) medium · 3.1GB · needs ~5.1GB (4k ctx)

kokoro:82m on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 82M · 0.3GB · needs ~2.3GB (4k ctx)

gemma3:4b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 4B · 3.3GB · needs ~3.8GB (4k ctx)

deepseek-r1:7b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) distill 7B · 4.7GB · needs ~4.9GB (4k ctx)

mistral:7b on Raspberry Pi 5 + AI Kit (Hailo-8L) ($110) 7B · 4.1GB · needs ~4.6GB (4k ctx)

qwen3:8b on Tesla P100 (16GB, used) ($135) 8B · 5.2GB · needs ~5.8GB (4k ctx)

qwen2.5vl:7b on Tesla P100 (16GB, used) ($135) 7B · 5.6GB · needs ~5.8GB (4k ctx)

llama3.1:8b on Tesla P100 (16GB, used) ($135) 8B · 4.9GB · needs ~5.4GB (4k ctx)

deepseek-r1:8b on Tesla P100 (16GB, used) ($135) distill 8B · 4.9GB · needs ~5.4GB (4k ctx)

Borderline — runs, but offloads

→ llava:7b 7B — 6.7 GB vs 6 GB usable — partial CPU offload, expect large speed loss

Gotchas

⚠ Turing die with tensor cores fused off — do not expect RTX-class prefill

⚠ 6GB is the defining wall in 2026; modern 8B default context metadata can push models over

Where to go next

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB

$480 — 16GB + tensor cores, the 3-jump upgrade

Amazon ↗ · Amazon ↗ (affiliate)

RTX 3090 (24GB, used)

$1100 — 24GB used, if budget allows

NVIDIA (used market) ↗ · Amazon ↗

2026-09-18 · ← full hardware catalog · fit = working set vs VRAM · speeds are community-reported, cited in our knowledge base