Can the Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Gemma 2 9B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M3 Max (64GB) can run Gemma 2 9B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 21.9 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 13 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Gemma 2 9B:
ollama run gemma2:9bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 9 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 M3 Max (64GB)
Run it in the cloud
No Apple M3 Max (64GB)? Run Gemma 2 9B 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 48 GB the Apple M3 Max (64GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 48 GB of the 64 GB unified memory by default.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 21.9 GB | Fits | ~13 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 13.2 GB | Fits | ~24 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 11 GB | Fits | ~32 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 10 GB | Fits | ~37 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 9 GB | Fits | ~43 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 7.9 GB | Fits | ~53 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 6.9 GB | Fits | ~69 tok/s |
GPUs that run Gemma 2 9B comfortably
Models that run well on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Gemma 2 9B?
Yes. The Apple M3 Max (64GB) can run Gemma 2 9B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 21.9 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 13 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Gemma 2 9B need?
About 9 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 21.9 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Gemma 2 9B on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)?
Roughly 13 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M3 Max (64GB)'s 400 GB/s memory bandwidth.