Hardware · Apple Silicon

What AI models can the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) run?

Unified memory: 256 GB
Usable for models: 192 GB
Memory bandwidth: 819 GB/s
FP16 compute: 28.4 TFLOPS
Released: 2025

macOS lets the GPU use roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of unified memory by default, so we plan around that figure rather than the full 256 GB.

Specifications

Maker	Apple Silicon
Type	Apple silicon (two dies joined)
Chip	Apple M3 Ultra
Unified memory	256 GB
Usable for AI models	192 GB
Memory bandwidth	819 GB/s
FP16 compute	28.4 TFLOPS
Interface	UNIFIED
Released	2025

1 product with the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Mac Studio (2025) (M4 Max or M3 Ultra)Apple · Desktop · 36, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256 or 512 GB · from $1,999Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)

Best LLMs for the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Fit
97 ptsExcellent (S) · 97 of 100 points: Model quality 42.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.8 Flash Next (125B-A6B)Alibaba	`Q5_K_M`	144 GB	59.6 tok/s	Runs well
94 ptsExcellent (S) · 94 of 100 points: Model quality 40.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	MiniMax M2.7 (230B-A10B)MiniMax	`Q4_K_M`	158 GB	43.3 tok/s	Runs well
94 ptsExcellent (S) · 94 of 100 points: Model quality 39.5/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	MiniMax M2.5 (230B-A10B)MiniMax	`Q4_K_M`	158 GB	43.3 tok/s	Runs well
94 ptsExcellent (S) · 94 of 100 points: Model quality 39.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Step 3.5 Flash (196B-A11B)StepFun	`Q4_K_M`	138 GB	39.4 tok/s	Runs well
93 ptsExcellent (S) · 93 of 100 points: Model quality 38.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	MiniMax M2.1 (230B-A10B)MiniMax	`Q4_K_M`	158 GB	43.3 tok/s	Runs well
93 ptsExcellent (S) · 93 of 100 points: Model quality 38.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	MiniMax M2 (230B-A10B)MiniMax	`Q4_K_M`	158 GB	43.3 tok/s	Runs well
91 ptsExcellent (S) · 91 of 100 points: Model quality 40.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.2/15, Memory use 12.6/15	Qwen3.5 122B-A10BAlibaba	`Q5_K_M`	105 GB	35.8 tok/s	Runs well
91 ptsExcellent (S) · 91 of 100 points: Model quality 36.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Ling 3.0 Flash (127B-A5B)Ant Group (inclusionAI)	`Q8_0`	151 GB	43.2 tok/s	Runs well
91 ptsExcellent (S) · 91 of 100 points: Model quality 38.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.5/15, Memory use 13.7/15	Laguna S 2.1 (118B-A8B)Poolside	`Q6_K`	114 GB	37.5 tok/s	Runs well
91 ptsExcellent (S) · 91 of 100 points: Model quality 38.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 12.3/15	Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B ThinkingAlibaba	`Q8_0`	102 GB	73.5 tok/s	Runs well
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 38.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 12.1/15	Qwen3 Coder Next (80B-A3B)Alibaba	`Q8_0`	101 GB	73.5 tok/s	Runs well
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 36.7/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 14.5/15, Memory use 15.0/15	MiMo V2.6 Flash (310B-A15B)Xiaomi	`Q3_K_M`	168 GB	37.3 tok/s	Tight fit

Best Image models for the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
84 ptsGreat (A) · 84 of 100 points: Model quality 41.4/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 3.8/15, Memory use 13.9/15	FLUX.2 [dev]Black Forest Labs	`FP16`	116 GB	2.5 min	Runs well
82 ptsGreat (A) · 82 of 100 points: Model quality 37.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 4.5/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs	`FP16`	37.1 GB	7.6 s	Runs well
80 ptsGreat (A) · 80 of 100 points: Model quality 37.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.6/15, Memory use 2.7/15	Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP16`	22.7 GB	11 s	Runs well
78 ptsGreat (A) · 78 of 100 points: Model quality 39.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 3.1/15, Memory use 10.4/15	HunyuanImage 3.0 (80B-A13B)Tencent	`FP8`	86.9 GB	3.8 min	Runs well
77 ptsGreat (A) · 77 of 100 points: Model quality 35.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 2.2/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 4BBlack Forest Labs	`FP16`	18.1 GB	4.2 s	Runs well
75 ptsGreat (A) · 75 of 100 points: Model quality 31.5/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 4.4/15	FLUX.1 [schnell]Black Forest Labs	`FP16`	36.4 GB	8.5 s	Runs well

Best Video models for the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
77 ptsGreat (A) · 77 of 100 points: Model quality 38.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.9/15, Memory use 9.1/15	LTX-2.3Lightricks	`FP16`	75.4 GB	28.2 min	Runs well
75 ptsGreat (A) · 75 of 100 points: Model quality 36.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.9/15, Memory use 9.1/15	LTX-2 (19B, video + audio)Lightricks	`FP16`	75.4 GB	28.2 min	Runs well
73 ptsGreat (A) · 73 of 100 points: Model quality 38.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 2.4/15, Memory use 7.0/15	Wan 2.2 I2V A14BAlibaba	`FP16`	58.0 GB	1.9 h	Runs well
73 ptsGreat (A) · 73 of 100 points: Model quality 38.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 2.4/15, Memory use 7.0/15	Wan 2.2 T2V A14BAlibaba	`FP16`	58.0 GB	1.9 h	Runs well
71 ptsGood (B) · 71 of 100 points: Model quality 30.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.3/15, Memory use 3.6/15	LTX-Video 13B 0.9.8 (distilled)Lightricks	`FP8`	30.1 GB	3.8 min	Runs well

Best LLMs by task on this hardware Open in Model Finder

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.