text model · DeepSeek-V4 · macOS
Can I run DeepSeek-V4-Flash on Apple M3 Pro (18GB)?
No. DeepSeek-V4-Flash needs ~179.7 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M3 Pro (18GB) only has ~12 GB usable.
Needs ~179.7 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~12 GB is usable.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes.
The gap is about 167.7 GB: DeepSeek-V4-Flash needs roughly 179.7 GB at Q4_K_M and Apple M3 Pro (18GB) leaves only about 12 GB usable for a model. The lightest tracked hardware that runs DeepSeek-V4-Flash is the Apple M3 Ultra (256GB) at 256 GB. See DeepSeek-V4-Flash on Apple M3 Ultra (256GB).
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~179.7 GB
- Usable on device
- ~12 GB
- Device memory
- 18 GB
Which quant fits
How to run it
On macOS use LM Studio (Polished GUI, ships MLX on Apple Silicon, one-click model downloads.).
- Parameters
- 284B (MoE, 13B active)
- Q4_K_M size
- 174.87 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 302.27 GB
- Context
- 1000k
- Memory
- 18 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~12 GB
- Power draw
- ~70 W
- Best runtime
- Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend) / MLX
What you can run instead
Run DeepSeek-V4-Flash on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M3 Pro (18GB) run DeepSeek-V4-Flash?
No. DeepSeek-V4-Flash needs ~179.7 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M3 Pro (18GB) only has ~12 GB usable.
How much memory does DeepSeek-V4-Flash need?
Apple M3 Pro (18GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~174.87 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~179.7 GB at a 4k context. It is a Mixture-of-Experts model (284B total / 13B active), so all experts must stay in memory; memory tracks total params, not active params.
What is the best tool to run DeepSeek-V4-Flash on macOS?
LM Studio for a simple setup; mlx-lm for the most speed. vLLM is NOT a Mac tool, it is a CUDA/Linux serving engine. Unified memory is not a fixed VRAM slice; ~70% is usable for weights.
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A live badge for your model card or README, updated as the data is. [](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-v4-flash/apple-m3-18gb) Sources
Weights are measured from GGUF files; KV cache and overhead are computed, so totals can vary ~15% with context and runtime. Any tok/s is a bandwidth estimate. See methodology.