// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M3 Max 36GB run Aria?

Yes โ€” here's how fast and up to what context, with real measured numbers.

Aria on the Apple M3 Max 36GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 no โ€” โ€” โ€”
Q8 yes 23k 8.2-9.9 t/s ~0.3-0.3 (slow)
Q4 yes 65k 14.6-17.6 t/s ~0.5-0.6 (slow)

Estimate (memory-bound). Beyond "max context" the KV cache spills to SSD swap and speed drops to the "beyond" figure.

FAQ

Can the Apple M3 Max 36GB run Aria?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~14.6-17.6 tok/s and fits up to 65k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~0.5-0.6 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 65k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.