Your rig
M3 · 24 GB · 24 GB
24 GB unified · 100 GB/s · 18.0 GB addressable by the GPU
Which one should I actually run?
Best models for your M3 · 24 GB
What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q4_K_M and 128K. The ordering is editorial; the sizes and speeds are computed. How the shortlists work.
All
General assistantCodingReasoning & mathsWritingVisionAgents & tool useTranslationLow latencyLong context
| Recommendation | Model | Why | Quant · total | Tok/s est. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
The 8–12 GB default of 2026 — beats every older 8B, with vision. | Q4_K_M · 10.0 GB | 10 | Runs great |
| Best for coding | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
The best coding model for 8–12 GB cards. | Q4_K_M · 10.0 GB | 10 | Runs great |
| Best reasoning | gpt-oss 20B OpenAI · Apache 2.0 |
Low/medium/high reasoning effort in 13 GB. | MXFP4 · 14.4 GB | 14 | Runs great |
| Best for writing | Gemma 4 12B Google · Apache 2.0 |
The 12 GB writing pick; 140+ languages. | Q4_K_M · 15.7 GB | 8.3 | Tight fit |
| Best vision | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
Vision on an 8–12 GB card. | Q4_K_M · 10.0 GB | 10 | Runs great |
| Best for agents | gpt-oss 20B OpenAI · Apache 2.0 |
Harmony-format tool calling, native 4-bit. | MXFP4 · 14.4 GB | 14 | Runs great |
| Best translation | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
Strong CJK and European translation in 8–12 GB. | Q4_K_M · 10.0 GB | 10 | Runs great |
| Fastest good model | gpt-oss 20B OpenAI · Apache 2.0 |
3.6B active, native 4-bit. | MXFP4 · 14.4 GB | 14 | Runs great |
| Best long context | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
262K native in 8–12 GB. | Q4_K_M · 10.0 GB at 128K context |
10 | Runs great |
Everything that fits
Runs great
24 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 128K | Total | VRAM headroom | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpt-oss 20B | 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act | MXFP4 | 10.8 GB | 3.00 GB | 14.4 GB |
3.6 GB free
|
14 | MLX | Run |
| Phi-4 14B | 14.7B | Q4_K_M | 8.3 GB | 3.13 GB | 12.0 GB |
6.0 GB free
|
6.8 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9.65B | Q4_K_M | 5.4 GB | 4.00 GB | 10.0 GB |
8.0 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Ornith 1.5 9B New this week | 9.41B | Q4_K_M | 5.3 GB | 4.00 GB | 9.9 GB |
8.1 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act | Q4_K_M | 4.8 GB | 1.46 GB | 6.8 GB |
11.2 GB free
|
31 | MLX | Run |
| Fara 7B | 8.29B | Q4_K_M | 4.7 GB | 6.84 GB | 12.1 GB |
5.9 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8.0B | Q4_K_M | 4.5 GB | 1.78 GB | 6.9 GB |
11.1 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New | 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act | Q4_K_M | 4.4 GB | 0.84 GB | 5.9 GB |
12.1 GB free
|
36 | MLX | Run |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B | 7.62B | Q4_K_M | 4.3 GB | 7.00 GB | 11.9 GB |
6.1 GB free
|
13 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 7B | 7.62B | Q4_K_M | 4.3 GB | 7.00 GB | 11.9 GB |
6.1 GB free
|
13 | MLX | Run |
| Olmo 3 7B Instruct | 7.3B | Q4_K_M | 4.1 GB | 9.50 GB | 14.2 GB |
3.8 GB free
|
14 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 | 7.25B | Q4_K_M | 4.1 GB | 4.00 GB | 8.7 GB |
9.3 GB free
|
14 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E2B | 5.1B | Q4_K_M | 2.9 GB | 0.89 GB | 4.4 GB |
13.6 GB free
|
19 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 4B | 4.66B | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 4.00 GB | 7.2 GB |
10.8 GB free
|
21 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 4B | 4.3B | Q4_K_M | 2.4 GB | 3.11 GB | 6.1 GB |
11.9 GB free
|
23 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 4B | 4.02B | Q4_K_M | 2.3 GB | 4.50 GB | 7.4 GB |
10.6 GB free
|
25 | MLX | Run |
| Granite 4.1 3B | 3.4B | Q4_K_M | 1.9 GB | 10.00 GB | 12.5 GB |
5.5 GB free
|
29 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 2.6B New | 2.7B | Q4_K_M | 1.5 GB | 2.00 GB | 4.1 GB |
13.9 GB free
|
37 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 2B | 2.27B | Q4_K_M | 1.3 GB | 1.50 GB | 3.4 GB |
14.6 GB free
|
44 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 1.7B | 1.72B | Q4_K_M | 1.0 GB | 3.50 GB | 5.1 GB |
12.9 GB free
|
58 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 1B Instruct | 1.24B | Q4_K_M | 0.7 GB | 4.00 GB | 5.3 GB |
12.7 GB free
|
80 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 1B | 1.0B | Q4_K_M | 0.6 GB | 0.14 GB | 1.3 GB |
16.7 GB free
|
99 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 0.8B | 0.87B | Q4_K_M | 0.5 GB | 1.50 GB | 2.6 GB |
15.4 GB free
|
114 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 0.6B | 0.6B | Q4_K_M | 0.3 GB | 3.50 GB | 4.4 GB |
13.6 GB free
|
166 | MLX | Run |
Runs — tight
4 models · fits at 128K, drop context or quant to go longer| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 128K | Total | VRAM headroom | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma 3 12B | 12.2B | Q4_K_M | 6.9 GB | 8.31 GB | 15.8 GB |
2.2 GB free
|
8.1 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 12B | 12B | Q4_K_M | 6.7 GB | 8.31 GB | 15.7 GB |
2.3 GB free
|
8.3 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 3B | 3.85B | Q4_K_M | 2.2 GB | 13.00 GB | 15.8 GB |
2.2 GB free
|
26 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 3.21B | Q4_K_M | 1.8 GB | 14.00 GB | 16.4 GB |
1.6 GB free
|
31 | MLX | Run |
Won't fit in VRAM
48 models · some are possible with CPU offload| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 128K | Total | Over budget | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimi K3 2.8T-A104B New | 2780B MoE / 104B act | Q4_K_M | 1563.2 GB | 3.38 GB | 1567.1 GB | +1549.1 GB | ~0.4 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New | 2446B MoE / 95B act | Q4_K_M | 1375.4 GB | 11.50 GB | 1387.5 GB | +1369.5 GB | ~0.5 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New | 1650B MoE / 49B act | Q4_K_M | 927.8 GB | 8.58 GB | 937.0 GB | +919.0 GB | ~0.9 | MLX | Why |
| Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B | 1027B MoE / 32B act | Q4_K_M | 577.5 GB | 8.58 GB | 586.6 GB | +568.6 GB | ~1.4 | MLX | Why |
| GLM-5.2 744B-A40B | 753B MoE / 40B act | Q4_K_M | 423.4 GB | 10.97 GB | 435.0 GB | +417.0 GB | ~1.2 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1 671B | 671B MoE / 37B act | Q4_K_M | 377.3 GB | 8.58 GB | 386.5 GB | +368.5 GB | ~1.3 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | 403B MoE / 17B act | Q4_K_M | 226.6 GB | 3.75 GB | 231.0 GB | +213.0 GB | ~2.7 | MLX | Why |
| Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week | 397B MoE / 17B act | Q4_K_M | 223.2 GB | 3.75 GB | 227.6 GB | +209.6 GB | ~2.7 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New | 284B MoE / 13B act | Q4_K_M | 159.7 GB | 6.05 GB | 166.3 GB | +148.3 GB | ~3.6 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 235B-A22B | 235B MoE / 22B act | Q4_K_M | 132.1 GB | 23.50 GB | 156.2 GB | +138.2 GB | ~2.1 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 125B MoE / 10B act | Q4_K_M | 70.3 GB | 3.00 GB | 73.9 GB | +55.9 GB | ~4.6 | MLX | Why |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | 124B MoE / 12B act | Q4_K_M | 69.7 GB | 1.00 GB | 71.3 GB | +53.3 GB | ~3.9 | MLX | Why |
| Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New | 124B MoE / 5.1B act | Q4_K_M | 69.7 GB | 0.98 GB | 71.3 GB | +53.3 GB | ~9.1 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B | 119B MoE / 6.5B act | Q4_K_M | 66.9 GB | 2.81 GB | 70.3 GB | +52.3 GB | ~7.1 | MLX | Why |
| gpt-oss 120B | 117B MoE / 5.1B act | MXFP4 | 60.5 GB | 4.50 GB | 65.6 GB | +47.6 GB | ~9.9 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B | 109B MoE / 17B act | Q4_K_M | 61.3 GB | 7.13 GB | 69.0 GB | +51.0 GB | ~2.7 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct | 70.6B | Q4_K_M | 39.7 GB | 40.00 GB | 80.3 GB | +62.3 GB | ~1.4 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B | 70.6B | Q4_K_M | 39.7 GB | 40.00 GB | 80.3 GB | +62.3 GB | ~1.4 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q4_K_M | 20.2 GB | 2.50 GB | 23.3 GB | +5.3 GB | ~14 | MLX | Why |
| Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q4_K_M | 20.2 GB | 2.50 GB | 23.3 GB | +5.3 GB | ~14 | MLX | Why |
| LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week | 33.2B | Q4_K_M | 18.7 GB | 16.00 GB | 35.3 GB | +17.3 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 32B | 32.8B | Q4_K_M | 18.4 GB | 32.00 GB | 51.0 GB | +33.0 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B | 32.8B | Q4_K_M | 18.4 GB | 32.00 GB | 51.0 GB | +33.0 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 32B | 32.8B | Q4_K_M | 18.4 GB | 32.00 GB | 51.0 GB | +33.0 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct | 32.2B | Q4_K_M | 18.1 GB | 4.75 GB | 23.5 GB | +5.5 GB | ~3.1 | MLX | Why |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New | 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act | Q4_K_M | 17.8 GB | 0.75 GB | 19.1 GB | +1.1 GB | ~14 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 4 31B | 31.3B | Q4_K_M | 17.6 GB | 20.78 GB | 39.0 GB | +21.0 GB | ~3.2 | MLX | Why |
| GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B | 31.2B MoE / 3B act | Q4_K_M | 17.5 GB | 6.61 GB | 24.8 GB | +6.8 GB | ~15 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q4_K_M | 17.1 GB | 12.00 GB | 29.7 GB | +11.7 GB | ~14 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q4_K_M | 17.1 GB | 12.00 GB | 29.7 GB | +11.7 GB | ~14 | MLX | Why |
| Muse Glimmer 30B New | 29.8B | Q4_K_M | 16.8 GB | 1.70 GB | 19.1 GB | +1.1 GB | ~3.3 | MLX | Why |
| Granite 4.1 30B | 28.9B | Q4_K_M | 16.3 GB | 32.00 GB | 48.9 GB | +30.9 GB | ~3.4 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.8 27B New this week | 27.8B | Q4_K_M | 15.6 GB | 8.00 GB | 24.2 GB | +6.2 GB | ~3.6 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.6 27B | 27.8B | Q4_K_M | 15.6 GB | 8.00 GB | 24.2 GB | +6.2 GB | ~3.6 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 3 27B | 27.4B | Q4_K_M | 15.4 GB | 10.41 GB | 26.4 GB | +8.4 GB | ~3.6 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act | Q4_K_M | 14.9 GB | 5.20 GB | 20.7 GB | +2.7 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | 24B | Q4_K_M | 13.5 GB | 20.00 GB | 34.1 GB | +16.1 GB | ~4.1 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | 23.6B | Q4_K_M | 13.3 GB | 20.00 GB | 33.9 GB | +15.9 GB | ~4.2 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 14B | 14.8B | Q4_K_M | 8.3 GB | 20.00 GB | 28.9 GB | +10.9 GB | ~6.7 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B | 14.8B | Q4_K_M | 8.3 GB | 24.00 GB | 32.9 GB | +14.9 GB | ~6.7 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B | 14.8B | Q4_K_M | 8.3 GB | 24.00 GB | 32.9 GB | +14.9 GB | ~6.7 | MLX | Why |
| Ministral 3 14B | 13.9B | Q4_K_M | 7.8 GB | 20.00 GB | 28.4 GB | +10.4 GB | ~7.1 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral NeMo 12B | 12.2B | Q4_K_M | 6.9 GB | 20.00 GB | 27.5 GB | +9.5 GB | ~8.1 | MLX | Why |
| Ministral 3 8B | 8.92B | Q4_K_M | 5.0 GB | 17.00 GB | 22.6 GB | +4.6 GB | ~11 | MLX | Why |
| Granite 4.1 8B | 8.79B | Q4_K_M | 4.9 GB | 20.00 GB | 25.5 GB | +7.5 GB | ~11 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 8B | 8.19B | Q4_K_M | 4.6 GB | 18.00 GB | 23.2 GB | +5.2 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | 8.03B | Q4_K_M | 4.5 GB | 16.00 GB | 21.1 GB | +3.1 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Phi-4-mini 3.8B | 3.84B | Q4_K_M | 2.2 GB | 16.00 GB | 18.8 GB | +0.8 GB | ~26 | MLX | Why |
Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 128K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 18.0 GB usable unified memory. Tokens per second are estimated from 100 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.