Rent a GPU

Can the Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Qwen3 8B?

Apple M3 Max (64GB) × Qwen3 8B8K context
YesRuns fully on the GPU
Memory at FP1618.2 GB of 48 GB
Weights 16.4 GBKV cache 1.2 GBRuntime 0.6 GB
QuantFP16Full quality
Memory18.2 GBof 48 GB usable
Speed~15tokens 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 M3 Max (64GB) can run Qwen3 8B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 18.2 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 15 tokens/second.

Try other context lengths

Run it with Ollama

With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Qwen3 8B:

ollama run qwen3:8b

Ollama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 6.8 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 Qwen3 8B 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 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.

QuantQualityMemoryFits?Speed
FP16Full quality18.2 GBFits~15 tok/s
Q8_0Near-lossless10.5 GBFits~28 tok/s
Q6_KExcellent8.5 GBFits~36 tok/s
Q5_K_MVery good7.6 GBFits~41 tok/s
Q4_K_MGood, most popular6.8 GBFits~48 tok/s
Q3_K_MNoticeably degraded5.8 GBFits~60 tok/s
Q2_KHeavily degraded4.9 GBFits~78 tok/s

GPUs that run Qwen3 8B comfortably

Models that run well on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)

Frequently asked questions

Can Apple M3 Max (64GB) run Qwen3 8B?

Yes. The Apple M3 Max (64GB) can run Qwen3 8B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 18.2 GB of the 48 GB available, at roughly 15 tokens/second.

How much VRAM does Qwen3 8B need?

About 6.8 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 18.2 GB at full FP16 precision.

How fast is Qwen3 8B on the Apple M3 Max (64GB)?

Roughly 15 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M3 Max (64GB)'s 400 GB/s memory bandwidth.