Can I Run Qwen 3 Next 80B A3B on a Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)?
Runs at Q8_0 — near-lossless quality.
13 quantizations fit your 256GB
| Quant | Min VRAM | Recommended | File size | Headroom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q8_0BEST | 86.0 GB | 87.5 GB | 84.8 GB | +170.0 GB |
| Q6_K | 66.9 GB | 68.4 GB | 65.5 GB | +189.1 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 57.8 GB | 59.3 GB | 56.7 GB | +198.2 GB |
| Q5_K_S | 56.2 GB | 57.7 GB | 55.0 GB | +199.8 GB |
| Q5_0 | 56.0 GB | 57.5 GB | 55.0 GB | +200.0 GB |
| Q4_1 | 51.0 GB | 52.5 GB | 50.0 GB | +205.0 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 49.5 GB | 51.0 GB | 48.7 GB | +206.5 GB |
| Q4_K_S | 46.8 GB | 48.3 GB | 46.9 GB | +209.2 GB |
| Q4_0 | 46.0 GB | 47.5 GB | 46.1 GB | +210.0 GB |
| Q3_K_L | 36.6 GB | 38.1 GB | 38.2 GB | +219.4 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 34.5 GB | 36.0 GB | 36.7 GB | +221.5 GB |
| Q3_K_S | 31.8 GB | 33.3 GB | 34.9 GB | +224.2 GB |
| Q2_K | 27.3 GB | 28.8 GB | 28.2 GB | +228.7 GB |
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Top-ranked open-source models that fit in 256GB.
FAQ
Can the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB) run Qwen 3 Next 80B A3B?
Yes. The Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)'s 256GB of unified memory is enough to run Qwen 3 Next 80B A3B at Q8_0 quantization (86.0GB required).
What's the best quantization to use?
Q8_0 is the highest-precision quantization that fits in your 256GB. It uses about 86.0GB of memory and 87.5GB 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.