Can I Run / GPT-OSS 20B / on Apple M5 Max (128GB)

Can I Run GPT-OSS 20B on a Apple M5 Max (128GB)?

Yes

Runs at full precision (fp16). Zero quality loss.

Model size
21.5B
GPU memory
128GB
Smallest quant
Q2_K
Best fit
fp16

12 quantizations fit your 128GB

QuantMin VRAMRecommendedFile sizeHeadroom
fp16BEST44.0 GB45.5 GB13.8 GB+84.0 GB
Q8_023.8 GB25.3 GB12.1 GB+104.2 GB
Q6_K18.7 GB20.2 GB12.0 GB+109.3 GB
Q5_K_M16.3 GB17.8 GB11.7 GB+111.7 GB
Q5_K_S15.8 GB17.3 GB11.7 GB+112.2 GB
Q4_114.4 GB15.9 GB11.6 GB+113.6 GB
Q4_K_M14.0 GB15.5 GB11.6 GB+114.0 GB
Q4_K_S13.3 GB14.8 GB11.6 GB+114.7 GB
Q4_013.1 GB14.6 GB11.5 GB+114.9 GB
Q3_K_M10.0 GB11.5 GB11.5 GB+118.0 GB
Q3_K_S9.3 GB10.8 GB11.5 GB+118.7 GB
Q2_K8.1 GB9.6 GB11.5 GB+119.9 GB

Try it in the cloud first

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Full model details
GPT-OSS 20B

All quant variants, benchmark scores, and use-case tags.

Best models for this GPU
Apple M5 Max (128GB)

Top-ranked open-source models that fit in 128GB.

FAQ

Can the Apple M5 Max (128GB) run GPT-OSS 20B?

Yes. The Apple M5 Max (128GB)'s 128GB of unified memory is enough to run GPT-OSS 20B at fp16 quantization (44.0GB required).

What's the best quantization to use?

fp16 is the highest-precision quantization that fits in your 128GB. It uses about 44.0GB of memory and 45.5GB recommended for comfortable inference.

What if I need more headroom for context length?

KV cache memory grows with context length. The numbers above assume a baseline 2K-4K context. For long-context use (32K+), add another 2-6GB depending on the model architecture.