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Apple M3 Max 128GB
Runs downloadable LLMs up to ~195B at Q4, ~60.7-73.2 tok/s on an 8B model.
What you can run
At 8k context, FP16 KV. Full-speed tok/s holds up to "max ctx"; beyond it the context spills to SSD swap and drops to the degraded figure.
| Model size | FP16 | Q8 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3B |
45.3-54.7 t/s ≤1643k ctx · then ~1.1-1.4 (slow) |
90.7-109.3 t/s ≤1689k ctx · then ~2.3-2.7 (slow) |
161.9-195.2 t/s ≤1709k ctx · then ~4-4.9 (slow) |
| 7-8B |
17-20.5 t/s ≤745k ctx · then ~0.4-0.5 (slow) |
34-41 t/s ≤806k ctx · then ~0.9-1 (slow) |
60.7-73.2 t/s ≤833k ctx · then ~1.5-1.8 (slow) |
| 13B |
10.5-12.6 t/s ≤535k ctx · then ~0.3-0.3 (slow) |
20.9-25.2 t/s ≤615k ctx · then ~0.5-0.6 (slow) |
37.4-45.1 t/s ≤650k ctx · then ~0.9-1.1 (slow) |
| 32B |
4.3-5.1 t/s ≤190k ctx · then ~0.1-0.1 (slow) |
8.5-10.3 t/s ≤312k ctx · then ~0.2-0.3 (slow) |
15.2-18.3 t/s ≤365k ctx · then ~0.4-0.5 (slow) |
| 70B | won't run |
3.9-4.7 t/s ≤133k ctx · then ~0.1-0.1 (slow) |
6.9-8.4 t/s ≤227k ctx · then ~0.2-0.2 (slow) |
| 120B | won't run | won't run |
4-4.9 t/s ≤142k ctx · then ~0.1-0.1 (slow) |
| 400B | won't run | won't run | won't run |
Estimate: tok/s ≈ bandwidth ÷ (params × bytes/param) × efficiency (Apple). Cyan = fits ~115.2 GB usable. Beyond "ctx", KV spills to SSD swap (rough degraded speed shown).
Run popular models on the Apple M3 Max 128GB
Videos about the Apple M3 Max 128GB
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About the Apple M3 Max 128GB
Apple M3 Max 128GB is a unified-memory system from Apple on Apple M3, 2023. For local genAI the numbers that matter are its 128 GB (how big a model + context fits) and 400 GB/s bandwidth (generation speed).
Frequently asked questions
What size LLM can the Apple M3 Max 128GB run?▶
With ~115.2 GB usable it runs up to ~195B at Q4 (~55.5B at FP16) at 8k context. Bigger spills into SSD swap and slows sharply.
How many tokens/sec does the Apple M3 Max 128GB generate?▶
Generation is bandwidth-bound. At 400 GB/s an 8B model at Q4 runs ~60.7-73.2 tok/s (estimate).
Why does long context slow it down?▶
The KV cache for the context must also fit fast memory; once weights+KV exceed 115.2 GB it spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses. Each row shows the max usable context.