Can I Run / Qwen 3.5 397B A17B / on Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)

Can I Run Qwen 3.5 397B A17B on a Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)?

Yes

Runs at Q4_K_M — good quality with reasonable headroom.

Model size
397B
GPU memory
256GB
Smallest quant
Q4_K_M
Best fit
Q4_K_M

1 quant fit your 256GB

QuantMin VRAMRecommendedFile sizeHeadroom
Q4_K_MBEST241.7 GB243.2 GB240.7 GB+14.3 GB

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Full model details
Qwen 3.5 397B A17B

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

Best models for this GPU
Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)

Top-ranked open-source models that fit in 256GB.

FAQ

Can the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB) run Qwen 3.5 397B A17B?

Yes. The Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)'s 256GB of unified memory is enough to run Qwen 3.5 397B A17B at Q4_K_M quantization (241.7GB required).

What's the best quantization to use?

Q4_K_M is the highest-precision quantization that fits in your 256GB. It uses about 241.7GB of memory and 243.2GB 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.