Can the Apple M1 (16GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M1 (16GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 10.7 GB available, at roughly 6 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Llama 3.2 3B:
ollama run llama3.2:3bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 3.5 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 3B in the cloud.
Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.
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.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 8 GB | Fits | ~6 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 5 GB | Fits | ~12 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 4.2 GB | Fits | ~16 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 3.8 GB | Fits | ~18 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 3.5 GB | Fits | ~21 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 3.1 GB | Fits | ~26 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 2.7 GB | Fits | ~34 tok/s |
GPUs that run Llama 3.2 3B comfortably
Models that run well on the Apple M1 (16GB)
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M1 (16GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
Yes. The Apple M1 (16GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 10.7 GB available, at roughly 6 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B need?
About 3.5 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 8 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Llama 3.2 3B on the Apple M1 (16GB)?
Roughly 6 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M1 (16GB)'s 68 GB/s memory bandwidth.