Your rig

M1 Ultra · 128 GB · 128 GB

128 GB unified · 800 GB/s · 96.0 GB addressable by the GPU
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Context length

KV cache at f16, 4K tokens

Quality floor
Q8_0 — near-lossless Q6_K Q5_K_M Q4_K_M — recommended Q3_K_M Q2_K — damaged
KV cache type
Runtime
Ollamallama.cppLM StudioMLX

4 of 5 runtimes drive this device.

Allow CPU offload Include partial-offload fits

Offloaded layers run at 60 GB/s host bandwidth — expect single-digit tokens per second.

Which one should I actually run?

Best models for your M1 Ultra · 128 GB

Updated 21 Aug 2026 5 new this week, 14 this month

What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q6_K and 4K. The ordering is editorial; the sizes and speeds are computed. How the shortlists work.

RecommendationModelWhyQuant · totalTok/s est.
Best overall Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Best capability per gigabyte: a current-generation dense 27B with vision and 262K context. Q6_K · 22.1 GB 21 Runs great
Best for coding Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Terminal-Bench 73, DeepSWE 42 — a generation ahead of anything else that fits 24 GB. Q6_K · 22.1 GB 21 Runs great
Best reasoning Gemma 4 31B
Google · Apache 2.0
89% AIME — the strongest maths of any model under 32B. Q6_K · 25.9 GB 19 Runs great
Best for writing Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Meta · Llama 3.3 Community
The creative-writing favourite: consistent voice, takes direction, handles fiction framing. Q6_K · 55.8 GB 8.3 Runs great
Best vision Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Image and video in, OSWorld 84 — the strongest local vision-language model at 24 GB. Q6_K · 22.1 GB 21 Runs great
Best for agents Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Computer use and tool calling are what 3.8 was trained for (OSWorld 84). Q6_K · 22.1 GB 21 Runs great
Best translation Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
119 languages, and Qwen translations read as idiomatic rather than literal. Q6_K · 22.1 GB 21 Runs great
Fastest good model Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
3.3B active per token: the fastest model that still competes with dense 27Bs. Q6_K · 28.1 GB 83 Runs great
Best long context Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
262K native, and only 16 of 64 blocks keep a KV cache — long context is cheap here. Q6_K · 29.8 GB
at 128K context
21 Runs great

Everything that fits

Runs great

61 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal VRAM headroom Tok/sRuntime
gpt-oss 120B 117B MoE / 5.1B act MXFP4 60.5 GB 0.15 GB 61.3 GB
34.7 GB free
79 MLX Run
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 70.6B Q6_K 53.9 GB 1.25 GB 55.8 GB
40.2 GB free
8.3 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B 70.6B Q6_K 53.9 GB 1.25 GB 55.8 GB
40.2 GB free
8.3 MLX Run
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q6_K 27.4 GB 0.08 GB 28.1 GB
67.9 GB free
83 MLX Run
Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q6_K 27.4 GB 0.08 GB 28.1 GB
67.9 GB free
83 MLX Run
LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week 33.2B Q6_K 25.4 GB 1.00 GB 27.0 GB
69.0 GB free
18 MLX Run
Qwen3 32B 32.8B Q6_K 25.0 GB 1.00 GB 26.6 GB
69.4 GB free
18 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B 32.8B Q6_K 25.0 GB 1.00 GB 26.6 GB
69.4 GB free
18 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B 32.8B Q6_K 25.0 GB 1.00 GB 26.6 GB
69.4 GB free
18 MLX Run
Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct 32.2B Q6_K 24.6 GB 1.00 GB 26.2 GB
69.8 GB free
18 MLX Run
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act Q6_K 24.1 GB 0.02 GB 24.8 GB
71.2 GB free
85 MLX Run
Gemma 4 31B 31.3B Q6_K 23.9 GB 1.41 GB 25.9 GB
70.1 GB free
19 MLX Run
GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B 31.2B MoE / 3B act Q6_K 23.8 GB 0.21 GB 24.6 GB
71.4 GB free
91 MLX Run
Qwen3 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q6_K 23.3 GB 0.38 GB 24.3 GB
71.7 GB free
83 MLX Run
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q6_K 23.3 GB 0.38 GB 24.3 GB
71.7 GB free
83 MLX Run
Muse Glimmer 30B New 29.8B Q6_K 22.8 GB 0.13 GB 23.5 GB
72.5 GB free
20 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 30B 28.9B Q6_K 22.1 GB 1.00 GB 23.7 GB
72.3 GB free
20 MLX Run
Qwen3.8 27B New this week 27.8B Q6_K 21.2 GB 0.25 GB 22.1 GB
73.9 GB free
21 MLX Run
Qwen3.6 27B 27.8B Q6_K 21.2 GB 0.25 GB 22.1 GB
73.9 GB free
21 MLX Run
Gemma 3 27B 27.4B Q6_K 20.9 GB 0.72 GB 22.2 GB
73.8 GB free
21 MLX Run
Gemma 4 26B-A4B 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act Q6_K 20.2 GB 0.35 GB 21.2 GB
74.8 GB free
72 MLX Run
Devstral Small 2 24B 24B Q6_K 18.3 GB 0.63 GB 19.6 GB
76.4 GB free
24 MLX Run
Mistral Small 3.2 24B 23.6B Q6_K 18.0 GB 0.63 GB 19.2 GB
76.8 GB free
25 MLX Run
gpt-oss 20B 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act MXFP4 10.8 GB 0.10 GB 11.5 GB
84.5 GB free
112 MLX Run
Qwen3 14B 14.8B Q6_K 11.3 GB 0.63 GB 12.5 GB
83.5 GB free
40 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B 14.8B Q6_K 11.3 GB 0.75 GB 12.7 GB
83.3 GB free
40 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 14B 14.8B Q6_K 11.3 GB 0.75 GB 12.7 GB
83.3 GB free
40 MLX Run
Phi-4 14B 14.7B Q6_K 11.2 GB 0.78 GB 12.6 GB
83.4 GB free
40 MLX Run
Ministral 3 14B 13.9B Q6_K 10.6 GB 0.63 GB 11.8 GB
84.2 GB free
42 MLX Run
Gemma 3 12B 12.2B Q6_K 9.3 GB 0.56 GB 10.5 GB
85.5 GB free
48 MLX Run
Mistral NeMo 12B 12.2B Q6_K 9.3 GB 0.63 GB 10.5 GB
85.5 GB free
48 MLX Run
Gemma 4 12B 12B Q6_K 9.2 GB 0.56 GB 10.3 GB
85.7 GB free
49 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 9B 9.65B Q6_K 7.4 GB 0.13 GB 8.1 GB
87.9 GB free
61 MLX Run
Ornith 1.5 9B New this week 9.41B Q6_K 7.2 GB 0.13 GB 7.9 GB
88.1 GB free
62 MLX Run
Ministral 3 8B 8.92B Q6_K 6.8 GB 0.53 GB 7.9 GB
88.1 GB free
66 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 8B 8.79B Q6_K 6.7 GB 0.63 GB 7.9 GB
88.1 GB free
67 MLX Run
LFM2.5 8B-A1B 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act Q6_K 6.5 GB 0.05 GB 7.1 GB
88.9 GB free
182 MLX Run
Fara 7B 8.29B Q6_K 6.3 GB 0.22 GB 7.1 GB
88.9 GB free
71 MLX Run
Qwen3 8B 8.19B Q6_K 6.3 GB 0.56 GB 7.4 GB
88.6 GB free
71 MLX Run
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct 8.03B Q6_K 6.1 GB 0.50 GB 7.2 GB
88.8 GB free
73 MLX Run
Gemma 4 E4B 8.0B Q6_K 6.1 GB 0.09 GB 6.8 GB
89.2 GB free
73 MLX Run
Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act Q6_K 6.0 GB 0.03 GB 6.7 GB
89.3 GB free
210 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B 7.62B Q6_K 5.8 GB 0.22 GB 6.6 GB
89.4 GB free
77 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 7B 7.62B Q6_K 5.8 GB 0.22 GB 6.6 GB
89.4 GB free
77 MLX Run
Olmo 3 7B Instruct 7.3B Q6_K 5.6 GB 2.00 GB 8.2 GB
87.8 GB free
80 MLX Run
Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 7.25B Q6_K 5.5 GB 0.50 GB 6.6 GB
89.4 GB free
81 MLX Run
Gemma 4 E2B 5.1B Q6_K 3.9 GB 0.04 GB 4.5 GB
91.5 GB free
115 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 4B 4.66B Q6_K 3.6 GB 0.13 GB 4.3 GB
91.7 GB free
126 MLX Run
Gemma 3 4B 4.3B Q6_K 3.3 GB 0.20 GB 4.1 GB
91.9 GB free
136 MLX Run
Qwen3 4B 4.02B Q6_K 3.1 GB 0.56 GB 4.2 GB
91.8 GB free
146 MLX Run
Ministral 3 3B 3.85B Q6_K 2.9 GB 0.41 GB 3.9 GB
92.1 GB free
152 MLX Run
Phi-4-mini 3.8B 3.84B Q6_K 2.9 GB 0.50 GB 4.0 GB
92.0 GB free
152 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 3B 3.4B Q6_K 2.6 GB 0.31 GB 3.5 GB
92.5 GB free
172 MLX Run
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct 3.21B Q6_K 2.5 GB 0.44 GB 3.5 GB
92.5 GB free
182 MLX Run
LFM2.5 2.6B New 2.7B Q6_K 2.1 GB 0.06 GB 2.7 GB
93.3 GB free
217 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 2B 2.27B Q6_K 1.7 GB 0.05 GB 2.4 GB
93.6 GB free
258 MLX Run
Qwen3 1.7B 1.72B Q6_K 1.3 GB 0.44 GB 2.4 GB
93.6 GB free
340 MLX Run
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct 1.24B Q6_K 0.9 GB 0.13 GB 1.7 GB
94.3 GB free
472 MLX Run
Gemma 3 1B 1.0B Q6_K 0.8 GB 0.03 GB 1.4 GB
94.6 GB free
585 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 0.8B 0.87B Q6_K 0.7 GB 0.05 GB 1.3 GB
94.7 GB free
673 MLX Run
Qwen3 0.6B 0.6B Q6_K 0.5 GB 0.44 GB 1.5 GB
94.5 GB free
976 MLX Run

Runs — tight

4 models · fits at 4K, drop context or quant to go longer
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal VRAM headroom Tok/sRuntime
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B 124B MoE / 12B act Q6_K 94.7 GB 0.03 GB 95.3 GB
0.7 GB free
23 MLX Run
Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New 124B MoE / 5.1B act Q6_K 94.7 GB 0.03 GB 95.3 GB
0.7 GB free
54 MLX Run
Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B 119B MoE / 6.5B act Q6_K 90.9 GB 0.09 GB 91.6 GB
4.4 GB free
42 MLX Run
Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B 109B MoE / 17B act Q6_K 83.2 GB 0.75 GB 84.6 GB
11.4 GB free
16 MLX Run

Won't fit in VRAM

11 models · some are possible with CPU offload
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal Over budget Tok/sRuntime
Kimi K3 2.8T-A104B New 2780B MoE / 104B act Q6_K 2123.0 GB 0.11 GB 2123.7 GB +2027.7 GB ~2.6 MLX Why
Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New 2446B MoE / 95B act Q6_K 1868.0 GB 0.36 GB 1868.9 GB +1772.9 GB ~2.9 MLX Why
DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New 1650B MoE / 49B act Q6_K 1260.1 GB 0.27 GB 1260.9 GB +1164.9 GB ~5.6 MLX Why
Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B 1027B MoE / 32B act Q6_K 784.3 GB 0.27 GB 785.2 GB +689.2 GB ~8.5 MLX Why
GLM-5.2 744B-A40B 753B MoE / 40B act Q6_K 575.1 GB 0.34 GB 576.0 GB +480.0 GB ~6.8 MLX Why
DeepSeek-R1 671B 671B MoE / 37B act Q6_K 512.4 GB 0.27 GB 513.3 GB +417.3 GB ~7.4 MLX Why
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 403B MoE / 17B act Q6_K 307.8 GB 0.12 GB 308.5 GB +212.5 GB ~16 MLX Why
Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week 397B MoE / 17B act Q6_K 303.2 GB 0.12 GB 303.9 GB +207.9 GB ~16 MLX Why
DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New 284B MoE / 13B act Q6_K 216.9 GB 0.19 GB 217.7 GB +121.7 GB ~21 MLX Why
Qwen3 235B-A22B 235B MoE / 22B act Q6_K 179.5 GB 0.73 GB 180.8 GB +84.8 GB ~12 MLX Why
Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 125B MoE / 10B act Q6_K 95.5 GB 0.09 GB 96.2 GB +0.2 GB ~27 MLX Why

Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 4K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 96.0 GB usable unified memory. Tokens per second are estimated from 800 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.