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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
| Quant | Fits? | Max context | Speed | Beyond 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?โถ
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?โถ
At Q4, up to about 635k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.