Best Budget 8GB Graphics Cards for Stable Diffusion

Find the best entry-level 8GB graphics cards that run Stable Diffusion 1.5, Pony, and SDXL workflows with medvram configurations.

Hardware ComparisonProgrammatic RankingVRAM Requirements
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Introduction

If you are building an entry-level workstation or on a tight budget, an 8GB GPU runs Stable Diffusion 1.5 and Pony fine-tunes flawlessly, and can support SDXL with --medvram. Here is how they compare.

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A GPU with 8GB VRAM runs 5,687 ComfyUI custom nodes (approx. 96% of the entire database) completely locally with zero OOM (Out Of Memory) limits on basic workflows.

GPU Specifications & Affiliate Comparison

This table lists prices, power draws, and custom links based on real-time hardware recommendations.

GPU ModelVRAM CapacityEst. PriceWattage DrawValue IndexAction
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30708 GB$400.98220W2.00Check Price 🛒
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40608 GB$303.50115W2.64Check Price 🛒
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30508 GB$219.25130W3.65Check Price 🛒

Detailed Hardware Analysis

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

8GB VRAM
Est. Retail Cost:$400.98
Wattage Draw:220 Watts
Cloud Rental:$0.15/hr
Highly Recommended For:

Stable Diffusion 1.5, Pony Diffusion (SD1.5 fine-tunes), SDXL (with --medvram)

Runs with Med-VRAM / Quantization:

Stable Diffusion XL (Standard), FLUX.1 Schnell (GGUF/NF4 with --lowvram)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

8GB VRAM
Est. Retail Cost:$303.50
Wattage Draw:115 Watts
Cloud Rental:$0.12/hr
Highly Recommended For:

Stable Diffusion 1.5, Pony Diffusion (SD1.5 fine-tunes), SDXL (with --medvram)

Runs with Med-VRAM / Quantization:

Stable Diffusion XL (Standard), FLUX.1 Schnell (GGUF/NF4 with --lowvram)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050

8GB VRAM
Est. Retail Cost:$219.25
Wattage Draw:130 Watts
Cloud Rental:$0.1/hr
Highly Recommended For:

Stable Diffusion 1.5, Pony Diffusion (SD1.5 fine-tunes), SDXL (with --medvram)

Runs with Med-VRAM / Quantization:

Stable Diffusion XL (Standard), FLUX.1 Schnell (GGUF/NF4 with --lowvram)