Mistral Large 2.1 (2411) on Apple M2 Max (96 GB)

Can the Apple M2 Max (96 GB) run Mistral Large 2.1 (2411)?

Yes, but slowly (tight fit)

Slow (tight fit). At Q3_K_M it needs about 69.4 GB of 72.0 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 4.5 tok/s.

Best quant: Q3_K_M
Generation speed: 4.5 tok/s
Prompt processing: 68.8 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 14.9 s
Largest safe context: 15K

Best app to run it on the Apple M2 Max (96 GB)

On macOS

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.

ollama run mistral-large:123b-instruct-2411-q3_K_M

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

Want an agent? Mistral Large 2.1 (2411) 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 Mistral Large 2.1 (2411)

Recommended for the Apple M2 Max (96 GB): Q3_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run mistral-large:123b-instruct-2411-q3_K_M

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q3_K_M files (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/bartowski/Mistral-Large-Instruct-2411-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/bartowski/Mistral-Large-Instruct-2411-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-Large-Instruct-2411 (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 2 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 67Good quality (B) · 67 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 74/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q3_K_M, 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 Slowtight fit: How well it runs on the Apple M2 Max (96 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.	30.2 / 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.	24.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	5.0 / 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	74.2 / 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 M2 Max (96 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	58.4 GB	72.0 GB	5.7 tok/s	Slow	56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	69.4 GB	72.0 GB	4.5 tok/s	Slowtight fit	67Good quality (B) · 67 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 74/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	84.1 GB	72.0 GB	2.9 tok/s	Very slowfar over GPU memory limit	76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	96.4 GB	72.0 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 · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	110 GB	72.0 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 · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	139 GB	72.0 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 · folder (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	255 GB	72.0 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.	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

76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 83/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Q4_K_M · 17.9 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB) Q2_K · 11.3 tok/s · Runs well
56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) Q2_K · 11.6 tok/s · Runs well
56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 63/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) Q2_K · 11.6 tok/s · Runs well
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 B200 Q8_0 · 40.8 tok/s · Runs great
77Great quality (A) · 77 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA H200 141GB SXM Q5_K_M · 39.7 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does Mistral Large 2.1 (2411) need on the M2 Max 96GB?

At Q3_K_M it needs about 69.4 GB. The M2 Max 96GB has 72.0 GB usable.

How fast is Mistral Large 2.1 (2411) on the M2 Max 96GB?

About 4.5 tok/s at Q3_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Mistral Large 2.1 (2411) should I use on the M2 Max 96GB?

Q3_K_M. 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.