on

Can the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) run Snowflake Arctic Instruct?

35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, it runs well (over GPU memory limit)

Runs well (over GPU memory limit). At Q2_K it needs about 208 GB of 192 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 56.4 tok/s.

Best quant
Q2_K
Generation speed
56.4 tok/s
Prompt processing
1,036 tok/s
First token (1K prompt)
1.0 s
Largest safe context
—

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

On macOS

Docker Model Runner

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp, vLLM

  • Splits the model between GPU memory and system RAM, which this setup needs.
  • Handy if you already work in Docker.
docker model run hf.co/Snowflake/snowflake-arctic-instruct

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 Snowflake Arctic Instruct

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/Snowflake/snowflake-arctic-instruct (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

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

How it’s rated

Quality 35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (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 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.15.8 / 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.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 score55.8 / 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 Ultra (256 GB)

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q2_K 208 GB 192 GB 56.4 tok/s Runs wellover GPU memory limit 35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
Q3_K_M 251 GB 192 GB — Won't run 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 5/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
Q4_K_M 308 GB 192 GB — Won't run 47Fair quality (C) · 47 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 356 GB 192 GB — Won't run 48Fair quality (C) · 48 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 409 GB 192 GB — Won't run 49Fair quality (C) · 49 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 524 GB 192 GB — Won't run 50Fair quality (C) · 50 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. All files (opens in a new tab)
F16 974 GB 192 GB — Won't run 50Fair quality (C) · 50 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 6/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 4K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

Quick answers

How much memory does Snowflake Arctic Instruct need on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

At Q2_K it needs about 208 GB. The M3 Ultra 256GB has 192 GB usable.

How fast is Snowflake Arctic Instruct on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

About 56.4 tok/s at Q2_K, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Snowflake Arctic Instruct 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.

Was this page helpful?