Can the Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Qwen2.5 72B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M3 Max (64GB) can run Qwen2.5 72B fully in unified memory at Q4_K_M (good, most popular), using about 47.4 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 5 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Qwen2.5 72B:
ollama run qwen2.5:72bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 47.4 GB here). That is also the best quant that fits.
New to this? Step-by-step setup for the Apple M3 Max (64GB)
Run it in the cloud
No Apple M3 Max (64GB)? Run Qwen2.5 72B 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 | 148.7 GB | Too big | — | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 80.5 GB | Too big | — | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 62.9 GB | Too big | — | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 55 GB | Too big | — | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 47.4 GB | Fits | ~5 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 38.8 GB | Fits | ~7 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 30.5 GB | Fits | ~9 tok/s |
GPUs that run Qwen2.5 72B comfortably
Models that run well on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Qwen2.5 72B?
Yes. The Apple M3 Max (64GB) can run Qwen2.5 72B fully in unified memory at Q4_K_M (good, most popular), using about 47.4 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 5 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Qwen2.5 72B need?
About 47.4 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 148.7 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Qwen2.5 72B on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)?
Roughly 5 tokens per second at Q4_K_M, estimated from the Apple M3 Max (64GB)'s 400 GB/s memory bandwidth.