Qwen3.5 397B-A17B on Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB)

Can the Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB) run Qwen3.5 397B-A17B?

Yes, but slowly (far over GPU memory limit)

Slow (far over GPU memory limit). At Q2_K it needs about 174 GB of 144 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 55.3 tok/s.

Best quant: Q2_K
Generation speed: 55.3 tok/s
Prompt processing: 992 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 1.0 s
Largest safe context: —

Best app to run it on the Apple M2 Ultra (192 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 Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 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? Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 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 Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

Recommended for the Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB): Q2_K. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q2_K (IQ2_M) files (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/unsloth/Qwen3.5-397B-A17B-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.5-397B-A17B-GGUF

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3.5-397B-A17B (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

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

github.com/QwenLM/Qwen3.8 (opens in a new tab)

Qwen’s current repo: Qwen3.5 and Qwen3.6 redirect here.

git clone https://github.com/QwenLM/Qwen3.8

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 63/100 (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 Slowfar over GPU memory limit: How well it runs on the Apple M2 Ultra (192 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.	4.0 / 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	63.9 / 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 M2 Ultra (192 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	174 GB	144 GB	55.3 tok/s	Slowfar over GPU memory limit	66Good quality (B) · 66 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.	GGUF (IQ2_M) · folder (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	210 GB	144 GB	—	Won't run	79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_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)
`Q4_K_M`	258 GB	144 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`	299 GB	144 GB	—	Won't run	92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 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`	343 GB	144 GB	—	Won't run	94Excellent quality (A+) · 94 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`	440 GB	144 GB	—	Won't run	95Excellent quality (A+) · 95 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`	819 GB	144 GB	—	Won't run	95Excellent quality (A+) · 95 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

92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 95/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) Q5_K_M · 36.7 tok/s · Runs great
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. Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) Q2_K · 66.3 tok/s · Runs well (tight fit)
92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB) Q5_K_M · 50.7 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 · 186 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 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Instinct MI325X Q3_K_M · 188 tok/s · Runs great
79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip Q3_K_M · 211 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does Qwen3.5 397B-A17B need on the M2 Ultra 192GB?

At Q2_K it needs about 174 GB. The M2 Ultra 192GB has 144 GB usable.

How fast is Qwen3.5 397B-A17B on the M2 Ultra 192GB?

About 55.3 tok/s at Q2_K, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Qwen3.5 397B-A17B should I use on the M2 Ultra 192GB?

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.