// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M4 Max 36GB run Yi 6B?

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

Yi 6B on the Apple M4 Max 36GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 yes 144k 30.9-37.3 t/s ~0.6-0.7 (slow)
Q8 yes 190k 61.9-74.6 t/s ~1.1-1.4 (slow)
Q4 yes 210k 110.5-133.3 t/s ~2-2.4 (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 M4 Max 36GB run Yi 6B?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~110.5-133.3 tok/s and fits up to 210k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~2-2.4 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 210k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.