How much VRAM does the Apple M3 (24GB) have?

The Apple M3 (24GB) has 24 GB of LPDDR5 with 100 GB/s memory bandwidth (unified system memory, shared between CPU and GPU).

What is the Apple M3 (24GB) best for?

With 24 GB of VRAM, the Apple M3 (24GB) is well-suited for running 7B–32B models at Q4 with room for context, making it a great all-rounder for local LLM inference.

What LLMs can the Apple M3 (24GB) run locally?

The Apple M3 (24GB) can run 42 of the 70 open-weight models tracked by CanItRun natively in VRAM at 8k context. Top options include: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at BF16, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct at FP32, Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at FP32.

Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Llama 3.3 70B Instruct?

The Apple M3 (24GB) does not have enough VRAM to run Llama 3.3 70B Instruct. You would need more VRAM or a lower quantization level.

Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Qwen 3.6 27B?

Yes. The Apple M3 (24GB) runs Qwen 3.6 27B natively in VRAM at Q4_K_M quantization, achieving approximately 6.6 tokens per second.

Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Yes. The Apple M3 (24GB) runs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct natively in VRAM at BF16 quantization, achieving approximately 6.3 tokens per second.

Apple M3 (24GB)

The Apple M3 (24GB) has 24 GB VRAM and 100 GB/s memory bandwidth. It can run 42 of our 70 tracked models natively in VRAM at 8k context.

With 24 GB LPDDR5, the Apple M3 (24GB) is a laptop-tier GPU that can run 42 models natively. It handles 70B-class models at Q4 quantization.

Apple M3 (24GB): 24GB LPDDR5 at 100 GB/s. 8-core CPU (4P+4E).

14B at Q4 native. ~5-8 t/s for 7B.

MLX and llama.cpp support.

Vendor	Apple
Architecture	Apple M3
CPU cores	8 (4P + 4E)
VRAM	24 GB (unified)
Memory type	LPDDR5
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s
Compute backend	METAL
Tier	Laptop
Released	2023
Models (native)	42 / 70
Models (offload)	0 / 70

Software: MLX gives the best performance on Apple Silicon; llama.cpp Metal backend is a solid alternative. Both are well-supported by Ollama.

Popular models for this GPU

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B (MoE)Qwen 3.6 35B Yi 1.5 34B Chat Qwen3 32B

Models this GPU runs natively in VRAM (42)

Too large for this GPU (28)

Frequently asked questions

How much VRAM does the Apple M3 (24GB) have?: The Apple M3 (24GB) has 24 GB of LPDDR5 with 100 GB/s memory bandwidth (unified system memory, shared between CPU and GPU).
What is the Apple M3 (24GB) best for?: With 24 GB of VRAM, the Apple M3 (24GB) is well-suited for running 7B–32B models at Q4 with room for context, making it a great all-rounder for local LLM inference.
What LLMs can the Apple M3 (24GB) run locally?: The Apple M3 (24GB) can run 42 of the 70 open-weight models tracked by CanItRun natively in VRAM at 8k context. Top options include: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct at BF16, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct at FP32, Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at FP32.
Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Llama 3.3 70B Instruct?: The Apple M3 (24GB) does not have enough VRAM to run Llama 3.3 70B Instruct. You would need more VRAM or a lower quantization level.
Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Qwen 3.6 27B?: Yes. The Apple M3 (24GB) runs Qwen 3.6 27B natively in VRAM at Q4_K_M quantization, achieving approximately 6.6 tokens per second.
Can the Apple M3 (24GB) run Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?: Yes. The Apple M3 (24GB) runs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct natively in VRAM at BF16 quantization, achieving approximately 6.3 tokens per second.