Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU, 128GB) × Gemma 3 12B
Can the Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU, 128GB) run Gemma 3 12B?
Yes
Yes. The Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU, 128GB) can run Gemma 3 12B at up to F16 (needs ~29.2 GB of 96.0 GB usable), at an estimated ~62.0 tokens/sec at Q4_K_M.
Speed is estimated from memory bandwidth calibrated with a measured 119.92 tok/s Llama 2 7B Q4_0 result (source). No direct public benchmark of this exact pair is recorded yet.
By quantization (8K context)
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits? | Est. tok/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3_K_M | 10.1 GB | ✅ | ~77.1 |
| Q4_K_M | 11.6 GB | ✅ | ~62.0 |
| Q5_K_M | 13.0 GB | ✅ | ~52.7 |
| Q6_K | 14.4 GB | ✅ | ~45.5 |
| Q8_0 | 17.4 GB | ✅ | ~35.4 |
| F16 | 29.2 GB | ✅ | ~18.8 |
Fastest hardware for Gemma 3 12B
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 — ~150 tok/s at Q4_K_M
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 — ~96.2 tok/s at Q4_K_M
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX — ~95.3 tok/s at Q4_K_M
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 — ~94.1 tok/s at Q4_K_M
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti — ~91.4 tok/s at Q4_K_M
No suitable GPU? Rent one by the hour on Vast.ai or RunPod (affiliate links).
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