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// RUN — FITS
Can the Apple M3 Max 36GB run Pythia-70m?
Yes — here's how fast and up to what context, with real measured numbers.
Pythia-70m on the Apple M3 Max 36GB
| Quant | Fits? | Max context | Speed | Beyond context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | yes | 469k | 1457.1-1757.1 t/s | ~48.6-58.6 (slow) |
| Q8 | yes | 470k | 2914.3-3514.3 t/s | ~97.1-117.1 (slow) |
| Q4 | yes | 471k | 5204.1-6275.5 t/s | ~173.5-209.2 (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 Pythia-70m?▶
Yes. At Q4 it generates ~5204.1-6275.5 tok/s and fits up to 471k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~173.5-209.2 tok/s.
How much context fits?▶
At Q4, up to about 471k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.