Can the Apple M3 (8 GB) run K2 Horizon 7B?

Yes, it runs well (over GPU memory limit)

Runs well (over GPU memory limit). At Q2_K it needs about 5.8 GB of 5.4 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 16.4 tok/s.

Best quant: Q2_K
Generation speed: 16.4 tok/s
Prompt processing: 282 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 3.6 s
Largest safe context: 4K

Best app to run it on the Apple M3 (8 GB)

On macOS

LM Studio

Desktop app · runs on llama.cpp, MLX · use the MLX build

Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Open K2 Horizon 7B in LM Studio

llama.cpp Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
Ollama Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.

Want an agent? K2 Horizon 7B supports tool use, so you can pair a llama.cpp or MLX LM server with one of these. Apps that run on this computer come first.

Coding agents

Personal assistants

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download K2 Horizon 7B

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

huggingface.co/IFM/K2-Horizon-7B-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/IFM/K2-Horizon-7B-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Institute of Foundation Models, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/IFM/K2-Horizon-7B (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from Institute of Foundation Models. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/ifm-ai/xllm (opens in a new tab)

IFM’s official training code (xLLM) for the K2 Horizon family.

git clone https://github.com/ifm-ai/xllm

Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 59/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q2_K, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Runs wellover GPU memory limit: How well it runs on the Apple M3 (8 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	25.2 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of unified memory the GPU can use; fewer when it goes past that limit.	10.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	9.6 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	15.0 / 15
Match score	59.8 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Apple M3 (8 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	5.8 GB	5.4 GB	16.4 tok/s	Runs wellover GPU memory limit	56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 59/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF files (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	6.6 GB	5.4 GB	12.9 tok/s	Slowfar over GPU memory limit	67Good quality (B) · 67 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF files (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	7.7 GB	5.4 GB	—	Won't run	76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	8.6 GB	5.4 GB	—	Won't run	77Great quality (A) · 77 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	9.6 GB	5.4 GB	—	Won't run	79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	11.8 GB	5.4 GB	—	Won't run	80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	20.2 GB	5.4 GB	—	Won't run	80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 10/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab) Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Q8_0 · 46.7 tok/s · Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Q8_0 · 51.1 tok/s · Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Q8_0 · 62.2 tok/s · Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Q8_0 · 66.7 tok/s · Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 F16 · 57.3 tok/s · Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q8_0 · 38.3 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does K2 Horizon 7B need on the M3 8GB?

At Q2_K it needs about 5.8 GB. The M3 8GB has 5.4 GB usable.

How fast is K2 Horizon 7B on the M3 8GB?

About 16.4 tok/s at Q2_K, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of K2 Horizon 7B should I use on the M3 8GB?

Q2_K. Of the versions that fit, it is the one that runs best; when two run equally well, the check prefers the higher-rated one.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.