Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (1T) on Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Can the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB) run Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (1T)?

Yes, but slowly (far over GPU memory limit)

Slow (far over GPU memory limit). At Q2_K it needs about 442 GB of 384 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 46.0 tok/s.

Best quant: Q2_K
Generation speed: 46.0 tok/s
Prompt processing: 730 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 1.4 s
Largest safe context: —

Best app to run it on the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

On macOS

LM Studio

Desktop app · runs on llama.cpp, MLX · use the MLX build

Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Open Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (1T) in LM Studio

llama.cpp Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
Ollama Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.

Want an agent? Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (1T) supports tool use, so you can pair a llama.cpp or MLX LM server with one of these. Apps that run on this computer come first.

Coding agents

Personal assistants

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (1T)

Recommended for the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB): Q2_K. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Ollama

Ollama only offered this as a cloud model, and has since retired it. To run it locally, use the GGUF files below with llama.cpp or LM Studio.

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q2_K files (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/unsloth/Kimi-K2-Instruct-0905-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Kimi-K2-Instruct-0905-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Moonshot AI, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K2-Instruct-0905 (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from Moonshot AI. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/MoonshotAI/Kimi-K2 (opens in a new tab)

git clone https://github.com/MoonshotAI/Kimi-K2

Links checked 1 day ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 62/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q2_K, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Slowfar over GPU memory limit: How well it runs on the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	28.7 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of unified memory the GPU can use; fewer when it goes past that limit.	4.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	15.0 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	15.0 / 15
Match score	62.7 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	442 GB	384 GB	46.0 tok/s	Slowfar over GPU memory limit	63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 62/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	535 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	658 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 11/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	761 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	88Excellent quality (A+) · 88 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 11/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	874 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	1,120 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	91Excellent quality (A+) · 91 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	2,085 GB	384 GB	—	Won't run	91Excellent quality (A+) · 91 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab) Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) Q2_K · 33.2 tok/s · Slow (far over GPU memory limit)
63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 73/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD EPYC 7002 / 7003 series NAS (512 GB) Q2_K · 7.0 tok/s · Slow (tight fit)
63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intel Xeon Silver (4100 to 4300 series) NAS (512 GB) Q2_K · 3.5 tok/s · Slow (tight fit)
63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intel Xeon W-2100 series NAS (512 GB) Q2_K · 3.3 tok/s · Slow (tight fit)
63Good quality (B) · 63 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intel Xeon D-2700 series NAS (512 GB) Q2_K · 2.6 tok/s · Very slow (tight fit)

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.