// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M4 Max 48GB run Pythia-160m?

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

Pythia-160m on the Apple M4 Max 48GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 yes 631k 1160.3-1399.1 t/s ~21.3-25.6 (slow)
Q8 yes 634k 2320.5-2798.3 t/s ~42.5-51.3 (slow)
Q4 yes 635k 4143.8-4996.9 t/s ~75.9-91.5 (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 M4 Max 48GB run Pythia-160m?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~4143.8-4996.9 tok/s and fits up to 635k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~75.9-91.5 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 635k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.