with just a 3060 , try qwen 3.5 9B

if we count your RAM and 3060, try gemma 4 26B

it should be a bit slow, because a part of the model will sit on RAM , but you will get a good idea of what you can get

if you like it, but consider it too slow, then buy the Nvidia P102-100 to speed up things.

If you look at buying an old gpu, i would recommend you the more VRAM the better, thats why i bought MI50 with 32 GB .

10 GB look like an improvement , but maybe for just a bit more of money you can get a GPU that allows you to do more things , like the difference between loading a 9B model or a qwen 3.5 27B or gemma 4 31B. Its like comparing a knife with a sword.

From my perspective, if you arent doing too much, probably the 3060 and your RAM could be enough for your needs.

About OS, give linux a try, if you like it and things runs smoothly, just move to linux. Ive been using it for the last 20 years. For some setups linux is the only way to unlock the full potential of their hardware , because windows is just bloatware.

About gpu, maybe other people recommend you buying a 3090 , and if you can afford it, i will support that idea too, for example if you are coding all the time with claude code, the combo of the 3060 and the 3090 looks great.