StarCoder 15B on Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB)

Can the Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) run StarCoder 15B?

Yes, it runs great

Runs great. At Q5_K_M it needs about 42.7 GB of 384 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 45.2 tok/s.

Best quant: Q5_K_M
Generation speed: 45.2 tok/s
Prompt processing: 1,113 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 0.9 s
Largest safe context: 8K

Best app to run it on the Apple M3 Ultra (512 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 starcoder:15b-q5_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? StarCoder 15B 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 StarCoder 15B

Recommended for the Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB): Q5_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 starcoder:15b-q5_K_M

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q5_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/mradermacher/starcoder-i1-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/mradermacher/starcoder-i1-GGUF:Q5_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/bigcode/starcoder (opens in a new tab)

Free Hugging Face account needed: accept the license on the model page and the download starts right away.

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

How it’s rated

Quality 25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q5_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 Runs great: How well it runs on the Apple M3 Ultra (512 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.	11.3 / 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.	25.0 / 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.	2.6 / 15
Match score	53.9 / 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 (512 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	37.8 GB	384 GB	89.9 tok/s	Runs great	18Basic quality (D) · 18 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	39.2 GB	384 GB	70.7 tok/s	Runs great	21Basic quality (D) · 21 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	41.1 GB	384 GB	54.7 tok/s	Runs great	24Basic quality (D) · 24 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	42.7 GB	384 GB	45.2 tok/s	Runs great	25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	44.5 GB	384 GB	38.0 tok/s	Runs great	25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	48.3 GB	384 GB	27.9 tok/s	Runs well	26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
`F16`	63.1 GB	384 GB	12.8 tok/s	Runs well	26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 48/100 (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

26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Q8_0 · 39.8 tok/s · Runs great
25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Q5_K_M · 43.1 tok/s · Runs great
25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Q5_K_M · 47.2 tok/s · Runs great
25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Q5_K_M · 57.4 tok/s · Runs great
25Basic quality (D) · 25 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Q5_K_M · 61.5 tok/s · Runs great
24Basic quality (D) · 24 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q4_K_M · 42.8 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does StarCoder 15B need on the M3 Ultra 512GB?

At Q5_K_M it needs about 42.7 GB. The M3 Ultra 512GB has 384 GB usable.

How fast is StarCoder 15B on the M3 Ultra 512GB?

About 45.2 tok/s at Q5_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of StarCoder 15B should I use on the M3 Ultra 512GB?

Q5_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.