GPU GUIDE · APPLE

Best AI models for the
Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)

The Apple M5 Ultra (256GB) has 256GB of unified memory. Below are the top 30 open-source AI models that fit, ranked by composite benchmark score. Each row shows the best quantization that fits your hardware.

VRAM
256GB
Brand
apple
Models that fit
30
Generation
M5

Top 30 models for the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)

01

DeepSeek V4 Flash

37.0B
67.1
Best fit: fp16 · 75.0GBCan I run it? →
02

Qwen 3.6 Plus

235B
65.9
Best fit: Q8_0 · 250.7GBCan I run it? →
03

MiniMax M2.7

229B
63.6
Best fit: Q8_0 · 244.0GBCan I run it? →
04

Qwen 3.6 27B

27.0B
61.8
Best fit: fp16 · 55.0GBCan I run it? →
05

MiMo V2 Omni

120B
60.7
Best fit: fp16 · 241.0GBCan I run it? →
06

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

340B
60.0
Best fit: Q5_K_M · 242.4GBCan I run it? →
07

Qwen3.5-27B

27.8B
56.3
Best fit: f32 · 112.2GBCan I run it? →
08

Qwen 3.5 397B A17B

397B
56.1
Best fit: Q4_K_M · 241.7GBCan I run it? →
09

Qwen 3.5 122B A10B

122B
53.8
Best fit: fp16 · 245.0GBCan I run it? →
10

Qwen 3.6 35B A3B

35.0B
52.7
Best fit: fp16 · 71.0GBCan I run it? →
11

Qwen 3.5 Omni Plus

235B
51.1
Best fit: Q8_0 · 250.7GBCan I run it? →
12

Gemma 4 31B

31.0B
48.9
Best fit: fp16 · 63.0GBCan I run it? →
13

Qwen 3.5 35B A3B

35.0B
48.8
Best fit: fp16 · 71.0GBCan I run it? →
14

Qwen 3 Next 80B A3B

80.0B
45.0
Best fit: fp16 · 161.0GBCan I run it? →
15

Gemma 4 26B A4B

26.5B
42.8
Best fit: f32 · 107.0GBCan I run it? →
16

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B BF16

124B
42.3
Best fit: fp16 · 248.2GBCan I run it? →
17

GPT-OSS 120B

120B
39.7
Best fit: fp16 · 241.8GBCan I run it? →
18

Devstral 2

24.0B
36.7
Best fit: fp16 · 49.0GBCan I run it? →
19

gemma 4 12B it

12.0B
36.4
Best fit: f32 · 49.0GBCan I run it? →
20

Qwen 3.5 9B

9.0B
35.7
Best fit: fp16 · 19.0GBCan I run it? →
21

Qwen 3.5 4B

4.0B
33.5
Best fit: fp16 · 9.0GBCan I run it? →
22

Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507

235B
32.7
Best fit: Q6_K · 194.7GBCan I run it? →
23

Mistral Small 4

119B
32.6
Best fit: fp16 · 239.8GBCan I run it? →
24

GLM-4.5

358B
32.5
Best fit: Q5_K_M · 255.4GBCan I run it? →
25

Devstral 2 2512

125B
31.9
Best fit: Q8_0 · 133.8GBCan I run it? →
26

Devstral Small 2

7.0B
31.7
Best fit: fp16 · 15.0GBCan I run it? →
27

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

36.2B
30.6
Best fit: Q8_0 · 39.5GBCan I run it? →
28

Qwen 3 235B A22B Instruct 2507

235B
30.3
Best fit: Q8_0 · 250.7GBCan I run it? →
29

Devstral Small 2 24B Instruct 2512

24.0B
29.1
Best fit: f32 · 97.0GBCan I run it? →
30

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

405B
28.3
Best fit: Q4_K_M · 246.5GBCan I run it? →
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FAQ — running AI on the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)

How many AI models can the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB) run?

With 256GB of unified memory, the Apple M5 Ultra (256GB) can run 30+ open-source models from our database, including DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen 3.6 Plus, MiniMax M2.7.

What's the largest LLM I can run on a Apple M5 Ultra (256GB)?

The biggest model that fits is approximately 405B. Larger models would need to be quantized further or won't fit at all.

Is 256GB of unified memory enough for local AI?

Yes — 256GB comfortably runs most popular open-source models including 30B-class LLMs at Q4_K_M.