Starling LM 7B Alpha on Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB)

Can the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) run Starling LM 7B Alpha?

Yes, it runs great

Runs great. At Q8_0 it needs about 24.7 GB of 192 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 60.9 tok/s.

Best quant: Q8_0
Generation speed: 60.9 tok/s
Prompt processing: 2,432 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 0.4 s
Largest safe context: 8K

Best app to run it on the Apple M3 Ultra (256 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 starling-lm:7b-alpha-q8_0

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

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 Starling LM 7B Alpha

Recommended for the Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB): Q8_0. 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 starling-lm:7b-alpha-q8_0

Quantized files · GGUF

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

Download the Q8_0 file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/QuantFactory/Starling-LM-7B-alpha-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/QuantFactory/Starling-LM-7B-alpha-GGUF:Q8_0

Original weights · Hugging Face

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

huggingface.co/berkeley-nest/Starling-LM-7B-alpha (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 1 day ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q8_0, 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 (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.	14.4 / 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.	3.0 / 15
Match score	57.4 / 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`	19.9 GB	192 GB	196 tok/s	Runs great	22Basic quality (D) · 22 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 52/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	20.6 GB	192 GB	155 tok/s	Runs great	26Basic quality (D) · 26 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	21.5 GB	192 GB	120 tok/s	Runs great	30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 56/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	22.2 GB	192 GB	98.8 tok/s	Runs great	31Basic quality (D) · 31 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 56/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	23.0 GB	192 GB	83.0 tok/s	Runs great	31Basic quality (D) · 31 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	24.7 GB	192 GB	60.9 tok/s	Runs great	32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 57/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	31.5 GB	192 GB	28.1 tok/s	Runs well	32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 55/100 (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

32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Q8_0 · 43.5 tok/s · Runs great
32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 F16 · 40.1 tok/s · Runs great
31Basic quality (D) · 31 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intel Arc B580 Q6_K · 41.0 tok/s · Runs great
31Basic quality (D) · 31 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB Q6_K · 42.4 tok/s · Runs great
32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q8_0 · 47.6 tok/s · Runs great
32Basic quality (D) · 32 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Q8_0 · 58.0 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does Starling LM 7B Alpha need on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

At Q8_0 it needs about 24.7 GB. The M3 Ultra 256GB has 192 GB usable.

How fast is Starling LM 7B Alpha on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

About 60.9 tok/s at Q8_0, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of Starling LM 7B Alpha should I use on the M3 Ultra 256GB?

Q8_0. 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.