Can I Run Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated April 5, 2025
Yes — comfortably
Yes, comfortably — Llama 4 Scout 17B at Q8_0 needs about 118.2 GB of the 192 GB usable on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB), leaving ~73.8 GB spare and running at ~22.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 262,144 tokens of context.
Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~22.2 tok/s
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Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB) — what it gives a model
| Usable memory for models | 192 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 819 GB/s |
| Form factor | Desktop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB): memory by quantization
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 192 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 220.4 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 218 GB |
| Q8_0 | 118.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~22.2 tok/s | 115.8 GB |
| Q6_K | 91.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~27.9 tok/s | 89.4 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 79.7 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~31.6 tok/s | 77.3 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 68.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~36.2 tok/s | 65.8 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 48.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~47.8 tok/s | 46.5 GB |
| Q2_K | 38.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~58 tok/s | 35.8 GB |
Which Llama 4 sizes fit
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 4 Maverick 17B | 243.9 GB | ✗ Too large | — |
| Llama 4 Scout 17B | 68.2 GB | ✓ Fits | ~36.2 tok/s |
What to watch out for
- 1 larger variant of Llama 4 does not fit and would need CPU offload or different hardware.
- Memory on this machine is not upgradeable, so the configuration you buy is the ceiling for every model you will ever run on it.
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256 GB limitations
- The largest single-box unified memory pool available, but at roughly half the memory bandwidth of a high-end discrete GPU — very large models load, then run slowly.
- Memory is soldered; the configuration chosen at purchase is permanent.
Recommended setup
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
How these numbers are calculated
- Memory need = quantized weights + KV cache at 8,192 tokens (f16) + 0.8 GB runtime overhead.
- 256 GB unified memory at 819 GB/s, shared between CPU and GPU.
- macOS reserves a share of unified memory for the system, so not all of it is available to a model.
- Throughput is a memory-bandwidth roofline estimate, not a measurement. It is labelled "estimated" everywhere it appears.
- KV cache is computed from this model's published attention configuration.
FAQ
Can I run Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?
Yes, comfortably — Llama 4 Scout 17B at Q8_0 needs about 118.2 GB of the 192 GB usable on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB), leaving ~73.8 GB spare and running at ~22.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 262,144 tokens of context.
Which quantization of Llama 4 should I use on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)?
Q8_0 — it needs about 118.2 GB of the 192 GB available, downloads as roughly 115.8 GB, and runs at an estimated 22.2 tokens/sec with up to 256K of context.
What limits Llama 4 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 Models on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
- Llama 4.5 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
- Magistral Small on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
- MiMo-V2.5 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
- MiniCPM-V on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
- MiniMax M2.5 on Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 256 GB)
Llama 4 on GPUs
- Llama 4 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
- Llama 4 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
- Llama 4 on Apple M4 Max
- Llama 4 on Apple M4