text model · Nemotron 3 · macOS
Can I run Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B on Apple M4 Max (64GB)?
No. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B needs ~341 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Max (64GB) only has ~48 GB usable.
Needs ~341 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~48 GB is usable.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes.
The gap is about 293 GB: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B needs roughly 341 GB at Q4_K_M and Apple M4 Max (64GB) leaves only about 48 GB usable for a model. No single tracked device has enough memory; Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B needs a multi-GPU or high-memory rig.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~341 GB
- Usable on device
- ~48 GB
- Device memory
- 64 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
- 550B (MoE, 55B active)
- Q4_K_M size
- 334.55 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 544.13 GB
- Context
- 256k
- Memory
- 64 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~48 GB
- Power draw
- ~145 W
- Best runtime
- MLX direct / Ollama (MLX backend)
What you can run instead
FAQ
Can Apple M4 Max (64GB) run Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B?
No. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B needs ~341 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Max (64GB) only has ~48 GB usable.
How much memory does Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B need?
Apple M4 Max (64GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~334.55 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~341 GB at a 4k context. It is a Mixture-of-Experts model (550B total / 55B active), so all experts must stay in memory; memory tracks total params, not active params.
What is the best tool to run Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B 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/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b/apple-m4-max-64gb) 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.