MiniMax M3 (427B) on Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Can the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) run MiniMax M3 (427B)?

Yes, it runs well (tight fit)

Runs well (tight fit). At Q2_K it needs about 188 GB of 192 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 48.3 tok/s.

Best quant: Q2_K
Generation speed: 48.3 tok/s
Prompt processing: 704 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 1.5 s
Largest safe context: 41K

Best app to run it on the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

On macOS

LM Studio

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

Runs the MLX build, typically up to 10% faster than GGUF for a model with 25B active parameters on Apple silicon.
Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.

Open MiniMax M3 (427B) in LM Studio

llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.
Ollama Runs the Hugging Face GGUF with ollama run hf.co/…

Want an agent? MiniMax M3 (427B) 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 MiniMax M3 (427B)

Recommended for the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB): Q2_K. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Ollama

Ollama offers this only as a cloud model (it runs on Ollama’s servers, not your machine). To run it locally, use the GGUF files below.

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q2_K (UD-Q2_K_XL) files (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M3-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M3-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from MiniMax, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3 (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from MiniMax. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-M3 (opens in a new tab)

git clone https://github.com/MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-M3

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

How it’s rated

Quality 66Good quality (B) · 66 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 83/100 (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 welltight fit: How well it runs on the Apple M3 Ultra (256 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.	29.9 / 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.	24.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	15.0 / 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	83.9 / 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 Ultra (256 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	188 GB	192 GB	48.3 tok/s	Runs welltight fit	66Good quality (B) · 66 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 83/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (UD-Q2_K_XL) · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	226 GB	192 GB	33.2 tok/s	Slowfar over GPU memory limit	79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	277 GB	192 GB	—	Won't run	90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	320 GB	192 GB	—	Won't run	91Excellent quality (A+) · 91 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	367 GB	192 GB	—	Won't run	93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	470 GB	192 GB	—	Won't run	94Excellent quality (A+) · 94 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	871 GB	192 GB	—	Won't run	94Excellent quality (A+) · 94 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 12/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (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

90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 93/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) Q4_K_M · 31.0 tok/s · Runs great
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 95/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB) Q4_K_M · 43.3 tok/s · Runs great
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 94/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Instinct MI350X Q4_K_M · 158 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Instinct MI325X Q3_K_M · 159 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip Q3_K_M · 183 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
66Good quality (B) · 66 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 83/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Instinct MI300X Q2_K · 171 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)

Quick answers

How much memory does MiniMax M3 (427B) need on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

At Q2_K it needs about 188 GB. The M3 Ultra 256GB has 192 GB usable.

How fast is MiniMax M3 (427B) on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

About 48.3 tok/s at Q2_K, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of MiniMax M3 (427B) should I use on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

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.