// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M3 Max 36GB run TxGemma 27B?

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

TxGemma 27B on the Apple M3 Max 36GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 no โ€” โ€” โ€”
Q8 yes 15k 7.6-9.1 t/s ~0.3-0.3 (slow)
Q4 yes 60k 13.5-16.3 t/s ~0.4-0.5 (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 TxGemma 27B?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~13.5-16.3 tok/s and fits up to 60k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~0.4-0.5 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 60k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.