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// RUN — FITS
Can the Apple M3 Max 48GB run Qwen2.5 Instruct (72B)?
Yes — here's how fast and up to what context, with real measured numbers.
Qwen2.5 Instruct (72B) on the Apple M3 Max 48GB
| Quant | Fits? | Max context | Speed | Beyond context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | no | — | — | — |
| Q8 | no | — | — | — |
| Q4 | yes | 3k | 6.7-8.1 t/s | ~0.2-0.2 (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 48GB run Qwen2.5 Instruct (72B)?▶
Yes. At Q4 it generates ~6.7-8.1 tok/s and fits up to 3k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~0.2-0.2 tok/s.
How much context fits?▶
At Q4, up to about 3k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.