Rent a GPU

Can the Apple M1 (16GB) run Llama 3.2 1B?

Apple M1 (16GB) × Llama 3.2 1B8K context
YesRuns fully on the GPU
Memory at FP163.3 GB of 10.7 GB
Weights 2.5 GBKV cache 0.3 GBRuntime 0.6 GB
QuantFP16Full quality
Memory3.3 GBof 10.7 GB usable
Speed~16tokens per second
  1. FP16
  2. Q8_0
  3. Q6_K
  4. Q5_K_M
  5. Q4_K_M
  6. Q3_K_M
  7. Q2_K

Yes. The Apple M1 (16GB) can run Llama 3.2 1B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 3.3 GB of the 10.7 GB available, at roughly 16 tokens/second.

Try other context lengths

Run it with Ollama

With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Llama 3.2 1B:

ollama run llama3.2:1b

Ollama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 1.6 GB here). You have room for FP16, which is full quality: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.

New to this? Step-by-step setup for the Apple M1 (16GB)

Run it in the cloud

No Apple M1 (16GB)? Run Llama 3.2 1B in the cloud.

Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.

Rent a GPU on RunPodRent a GPU on Vast.ai

Memory needed by quantization

At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 10.7 GB the Apple M1 (16GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 10.7 GB of the 16 GB unified memory by default.

QuantQualityMemoryFits?Speed
FP16Full quality3.3 GBFits~16 tok/s
Q8_0Near-lossless2.2 GBFits~31 tok/s
Q6_KExcellent1.9 GBFits~40 tok/s
Q5_K_MVery good1.8 GBFits~46 tok/s
Q4_K_MGood, most popular1.6 GBFits~54 tok/s
Q3_K_MNoticeably degraded1.5 GBFits~67 tok/s
Q2_KHeavily degraded1.3 GBFits~88 tok/s

GPUs that run Llama 3.2 1B comfortably

Models that run well on the Apple M1 (16GB)

Frequently asked questions

Can Apple M1 (16GB) run Llama 3.2 1B?

Yes. The Apple M1 (16GB) can run Llama 3.2 1B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 3.3 GB of the 10.7 GB available, at roughly 16 tokens/second.

How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 1B need?

About 1.6 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 3.3 GB at full FP16 precision.

How fast is Llama 3.2 1B on the Apple M1 (16GB)?

Roughly 16 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M1 (16GB)'s 68 GB/s memory bandwidth.