// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M3 Max 64GB run StableLM-2-1.6B?

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

StableLM-2-1.6B on the Apple M3 Max 64GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 yes 806k 82.7-99.7 t/s ~2.1-2.5 (slow)
Q8 yes 831k 165.4-199.5 t/s ~4.1-5 (slow)
Q4 yes 842k 295.4-356.2 t/s ~7.4-8.9 (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 64GB run StableLM-2-1.6B?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~295.4-356.2 tok/s and fits up to 842k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~7.4-8.9 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 842k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.