Can I Run GPT-OSS on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated August 15, 2026

Yes — comfortably

Yes, comfortably — GPT-oss 120B at Q5_K_M needs about 86.5 GB of the 192 GB usable on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB), leaving ~105.5 GB spare and running at ~5.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.

Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q5_K_M · Estimated speed: ~5.2 tok/s

Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models192 GB
Memory bandwidth819 GB/s
Form factorDesktop
Operating systemmacOS
Memory upgradeableNo — soldered

GPT-OSS on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB): memory by quantization

QuantMemory neededFits 192 GB?Max contextEst. speedDownload
F16241.4 GB✗ No240 GB
Q8_0128.9 GB✓ Yes64K~3.5 tok/s127.5 GB
Q6_K99.8 GB✓ Yes64K~4.5 tok/s98.4 GB
Q5_K_M86.5 GB✓ Yes64K~5.2 tok/s85.1 GB
Q4_K_M73.9 GB✓ Yes64K~6.1 tok/s72.5 GB
Q3_K_M52.6 GB✓ Yes64K~8.5 tok/s51.2 GB
Q2_K40.9 GB✓ Yes64K~10.9 tok/s39.4 GB

Which GPT-OSS sizes fit

VariantNeeds at Q4_K_MFits?Est. speed
GPT-oss 120B73.9 GB✓ Fits~6.1 tok/s
GPT-OSS 20B13.3 GB✓ Fits~33 tok/s

What to watch out for

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256 GB limitations

Recommended setup

Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput

How these numbers are calculated

FAQ

Can I run GPT-OSS on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?

Yes, comfortably — GPT-oss 120B at Q5_K_M needs about 86.5 GB of the 192 GB usable on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB), leaving ~105.5 GB spare and running at ~5.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.

Which quantization of GPT-OSS should I use on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?

Q5_K_M — it needs about 86.5 GB of the 192 GB available, downloads as roughly 85.1 GB, and runs at an estimated 5.2 tokens/sec with up to 64K of context.

What limits GPT-OSS on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?

Nothing binding — the model fits with headroom and generates at a usable speed on this hardware.

Which runtime should I use?

Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput

Other Computers

Other Models on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)

GPT-OSS on GPUs

What This Model Is Good At

Model & Tools

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