Your rig
M3 Max · 64 GB · 64 GB
64 GB unified · 400 GB/s · 48.0 GB addressable by the GPU
Which one should I actually run?
Best models for your M3 Max · 64 GB
What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q5_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 | Qwen3.8 27B New this week Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
Best capability per gigabyte: a current-generation dense 27B with vision and 262K context. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | 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. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | Runs great |
| Best reasoning | Qwen3.8 27B New this week Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
Thinking mode plus the best agentic reasoning at 24 GB. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | Runs great |
| Best for writing | Gemma 4 26B-A4B Google · Apache 2.0 |
Gemma 4 prose at MoE speed, with room for a long draft in context. | Q5_K_M · 23.3 GB | 42 | 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. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | 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). | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | 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. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB | 12 | 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. | Q5_K_M · 26.8 GB | 48 | 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. | Q5_K_M · 27.0 GB at 128K context |
12 | Runs great |
Everything that fits
Runs great
53 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 128K | Total | VRAM headroom | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q5_K_M | 23.7 GB | 2.50 GB | 26.8 GB |
21.2 GB free
|
48 | MLX | Run |
| Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q5_K_M | 23.7 GB | 2.50 GB | 26.8 GB |
21.2 GB free
|
48 | MLX | Run |
| LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week | 33.2B | Q5_K_M | 21.9 GB | 16.00 GB | 38.5 GB |
9.5 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct | 32.2B | Q5_K_M | 21.3 GB | 4.75 GB | 26.6 GB |
21.4 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New | 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act | Q5_K_M | 20.9 GB | 0.75 GB | 22.2 GB |
25.8 GB free
|
49 | MLX | Run |
| GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B | 31.2B MoE / 3B act | Q5_K_M | 20.6 GB | 6.61 GB | 27.8 GB |
20.2 GB free
|
53 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q5_K_M | 20.1 GB | 12.00 GB | 32.7 GB |
15.3 GB free
|
48 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q5_K_M | 20.1 GB | 12.00 GB | 32.7 GB |
15.3 GB free
|
48 | MLX | Run |
| Muse Glimmer 30B New | 29.8B | Q5_K_M | 19.7 GB | 1.70 GB | 22.0 GB |
26.0 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.8 27B New this week | 27.8B | Q5_K_M | 18.4 GB | 8.00 GB | 27.0 GB |
21.0 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.6 27B | 27.8B | Q5_K_M | 18.4 GB | 8.00 GB | 27.0 GB |
21.0 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 27B | 27.4B | Q5_K_M | 18.1 GB | 10.41 GB | 29.1 GB |
18.9 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act | Q5_K_M | 17.5 GB | 5.20 GB | 23.3 GB |
24.7 GB free
|
42 | MLX | Run |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | 24B | Q5_K_M | 15.8 GB | 20.00 GB | 36.4 GB |
11.6 GB free
|
14 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | 23.6B | Q5_K_M | 15.6 GB | 20.00 GB | 36.2 GB |
11.8 GB free
|
14 | MLX | Run |
| gpt-oss 20B | 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act | MXFP4 | 10.8 GB | 3.00 GB | 14.4 GB |
33.6 GB free
|
56 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 14B | 14.8B | Q5_K_M | 9.8 GB | 20.00 GB | 30.4 GB |
17.6 GB free
|
23 | MLX | Run |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B | 14.8B | Q5_K_M | 9.8 GB | 24.00 GB | 34.4 GB |
13.6 GB free
|
23 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B | 14.8B | Q5_K_M | 9.8 GB | 24.00 GB | 34.4 GB |
13.6 GB free
|
23 | MLX | Run |
| Phi-4 14B | 14.7B | Q5_K_M | 9.7 GB | 3.13 GB | 13.4 GB |
34.6 GB free
|
23 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 14B | 13.9B | Q5_K_M | 9.2 GB | 20.00 GB | 29.8 GB |
18.2 GB free
|
24 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 12B | 12.2B | Q5_K_M | 8.1 GB | 8.31 GB | 17.0 GB |
31.0 GB free
|
28 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral NeMo 12B | 12.2B | Q5_K_M | 8.1 GB | 20.00 GB | 28.7 GB |
19.3 GB free
|
28 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 12B | 12B | Q5_K_M | 7.9 GB | 8.31 GB | 16.8 GB |
31.2 GB free
|
28 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9.65B | Q5_K_M | 6.4 GB | 4.00 GB | 11.0 GB |
37.0 GB free
|
35 | MLX | Run |
| Ornith 1.5 9B New this week | 9.41B | Q5_K_M | 6.2 GB | 4.00 GB | 10.8 GB |
37.2 GB free
|
36 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 8B | 8.92B | Q5_K_M | 5.9 GB | 17.00 GB | 23.5 GB |
24.5 GB free
|
38 | MLX | Run |
| Granite 4.1 8B | 8.79B | Q5_K_M | 5.8 GB | 20.00 GB | 26.4 GB |
21.6 GB free
|
39 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act | Q5_K_M | 5.6 GB | 1.46 GB | 7.7 GB |
40.3 GB free
|
105 | MLX | Run |
| Fara 7B | 8.29B | Q5_K_M | 5.5 GB | 6.84 GB | 12.9 GB |
35.1 GB free
|
41 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 8B | 8.19B | Q5_K_M | 5.4 GB | 18.00 GB | 24.0 GB |
24.0 GB free
|
41 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | 8.03B | Q5_K_M | 5.3 GB | 16.00 GB | 21.9 GB |
26.1 GB free
|
42 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8.0B | Q5_K_M | 5.3 GB | 1.78 GB | 7.7 GB |
40.3 GB free
|
42 | MLX | Run |
| Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New | 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act | Q5_K_M | 5.2 GB | 0.84 GB | 6.7 GB |
41.3 GB free
|
122 | MLX | Run |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B | 7.62B | Q5_K_M | 5.0 GB | 7.00 GB | 12.6 GB |
35.4 GB free
|
44 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 7B | 7.62B | Q5_K_M | 5.0 GB | 7.00 GB | 12.6 GB |
35.4 GB free
|
44 | MLX | Run |
| Olmo 3 7B Instruct | 7.3B | Q5_K_M | 4.8 GB | 9.50 GB | 14.9 GB |
33.1 GB free
|
46 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 | 7.25B | Q5_K_M | 4.8 GB | 4.00 GB | 9.4 GB |
38.6 GB free
|
47 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E2B | 5.1B | Q5_K_M | 3.4 GB | 0.89 GB | 4.9 GB |
43.1 GB free
|
66 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 4B | 4.66B | Q5_K_M | 3.1 GB | 4.00 GB | 7.7 GB |
40.3 GB free
|
73 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 4B | 4.3B | Q5_K_M | 2.8 GB | 3.11 GB | 6.5 GB |
41.5 GB free
|
79 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 4B | 4.02B | Q5_K_M | 2.7 GB | 4.50 GB | 7.8 GB |
40.2 GB free
|
84 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 3B | 3.85B | Q5_K_M | 2.5 GB | 13.00 GB | 16.1 GB |
31.9 GB free
|
88 | MLX | Run |
| Phi-4-mini 3.8B | 3.84B | Q5_K_M | 2.5 GB | 16.00 GB | 19.1 GB |
28.9 GB free
|
88 | MLX | Run |
| Granite 4.1 3B | 3.4B | Q5_K_M | 2.2 GB | 10.00 GB | 12.8 GB |
35.2 GB free
|
100 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 3.21B | Q5_K_M | 2.1 GB | 14.00 GB | 16.7 GB |
31.3 GB free
|
105 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 2.6B New | 2.7B | Q5_K_M | 1.8 GB | 2.00 GB | 4.4 GB |
43.6 GB free
|
125 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 2B | 2.27B | Q5_K_M | 1.5 GB | 1.50 GB | 3.6 GB |
44.4 GB free
|
149 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 1.7B | 1.72B | Q5_K_M | 1.1 GB | 3.50 GB | 5.2 GB |
42.8 GB free
|
197 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 1B Instruct | 1.24B | Q5_K_M | 0.8 GB | 4.00 GB | 5.4 GB |
42.6 GB free
|
273 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 1B | 1.0B | Q5_K_M | 0.7 GB | 0.14 GB | 1.4 GB |
46.6 GB free
|
339 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 0.8B | 0.87B | Q5_K_M | 0.6 GB | 1.50 GB | 2.7 GB |
45.3 GB free
|
389 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 0.6B | 0.6B | Q5_K_M | 0.4 GB | 3.50 GB | 4.5 GB |
43.5 GB free
|
564 | MLX | Run |
Runs — tight
1 model · fits at 128K, drop context or quant to go longer| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 128K | Total | VRAM headroom | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 31B | 31.3B | Q5_K_M | 20.7 GB | 20.78 GB | 42.0 GB |
6.0 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
Won't fit in VRAM
22 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 | Q5_K_M | 1835.0 GB | 3.38 GB | 1839.0 GB | +1791.0 GB | ~1.5 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New | 2446B MoE / 95B act | Q5_K_M | 1614.5 GB | 11.50 GB | 1626.6 GB | +1578.6 GB | ~1.7 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New | 1650B MoE / 49B act | Q5_K_M | 1089.1 GB | 8.58 GB | 1098.3 GB | +1050.3 GB | ~3.2 | MLX | Why |
| Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B | 1027B MoE / 32B act | Q5_K_M | 677.9 GB | 8.58 GB | 687.1 GB | +639.1 GB | ~4.9 | MLX | Why |
| GLM-5.2 744B-A40B | 753B MoE / 40B act | Q5_K_M | 497.0 GB | 10.97 GB | 508.6 GB | +460.6 GB | ~4.0 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1 671B | 671B MoE / 37B act | Q5_K_M | 442.9 GB | 8.58 GB | 452.1 GB | +404.1 GB | ~4.3 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | 403B MoE / 17B act | Q5_K_M | 266.0 GB | 3.75 GB | 270.4 GB | +222.4 GB | ~9.3 | MLX | Why |
| Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week | 397B MoE / 17B act | Q5_K_M | 262.0 GB | 3.75 GB | 266.4 GB | +218.4 GB | ~9.3 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New | 284B MoE / 13B act | Q5_K_M | 187.5 GB | 6.05 GB | 194.1 GB | +146.1 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 235B-A22B | 235B MoE / 22B act | Q5_K_M | 155.1 GB | 23.50 GB | 179.2 GB | +131.2 GB | ~7.2 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 125B MoE / 10B act | Q5_K_M | 82.5 GB | 3.00 GB | 86.1 GB | +38.1 GB | ~16 | MLX | Why |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | 124B MoE / 12B act | Q5_K_M | 81.8 GB | 1.00 GB | 83.4 GB | +35.4 GB | ~13 | MLX | Why |
| Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New | 124B MoE / 5.1B act | Q5_K_M | 81.8 GB | 0.98 GB | 83.4 GB | +35.4 GB | ~31 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B | 119B MoE / 6.5B act | Q5_K_M | 78.5 GB | 2.81 GB | 82.0 GB | +34.0 GB | ~24 | MLX | Why |
| gpt-oss 120B | 117B MoE / 5.1B act | MXFP4 | 60.5 GB | 4.50 GB | 65.6 GB | +17.6 GB | ~39 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B | 109B MoE / 17B act | Q5_K_M | 71.9 GB | 7.13 GB | 79.7 GB | +31.7 GB | ~9.3 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct | 70.6B | Q5_K_M | 46.6 GB | 40.00 GB | 87.2 GB | +39.2 GB | ~4.8 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B | 70.6B | Q5_K_M | 46.6 GB | 40.00 GB | 87.2 GB | +39.2 GB | ~4.8 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 32B | 32.8B | Q5_K_M | 21.7 GB | 32.00 GB | 54.3 GB | +6.3 GB | ~10 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B | 32.8B | Q5_K_M | 21.7 GB | 32.00 GB | 54.3 GB | +6.3 GB | ~10 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 32B | 32.8B | Q5_K_M | 21.7 GB | 32.00 GB | 54.3 GB | +6.3 GB | ~10 | MLX | Why |
| Granite 4.1 30B | 28.9B | Q5_K_M | 19.1 GB | 32.00 GB | 51.7 GB | +3.7 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 128K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 48.0 GB usable unified memory. Tokens per second are estimated from 400 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.