# MiniMax M3: RAM and VRAM requirements

> MiniMax M3 is a 428B MiniMax model (Mixture-of-Experts, 23B active per token). At Q4_K_M it needs about **269.8 GB** to run and fits **0 of 40** tracked devices. Minimum to run: high-memory hardware.

Last validated: 2026-08-03. Sources: Ollama, HuggingFace GGUF repos, vendor specs.

## Memory by quantization
| Quant | On disk | To run (4k context) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Q4_K_M | 264.03 GB | ~269.8 GB |
| Q8_0 | 452.71 GB | ~458.5 GB |
| FP16 | 852 GB | ~857.8 GB |

Memory = weights + KV cache + ~0.8 GB runtime overhead, and varies ±15% with context length.

## Will it run on my device?
- **Apple M1 (8GB)** (8 GB): No, not enough memory
- **iPhone 17** (8 GB): No, not enough memory
- **iPhone 17 Pro** (12 GB): No, not enough memory
- **16GB RAM Laptop (CPU/iGPU only)** (16 GB): No, not enough memory
- **Google Pixel 10 Pro** (16 GB): No, not enough memory
- **Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 (24GB)** (24 GB): No, not enough memory
- **Apple M4 Pro (48GB)** (48 GB): No, not enough memory
- **Apple M3 Ultra (256GB)** (256 GB): No, not enough memory

Full table of all 40 devices: https://localmodel.run/model/minimax-m3

## How to run
Use LM Studio (Mac/Windows) or Ollama / vLLM (Linux).

## Details
- Parameters: 428B (MoE, 23B active per token)
- Default context: 1000k tokens
- License: MiniMax Community License (commercial use: conditional)
- Released: 2026-06
- HuggingFace: 164,790 downloads/mo, 1415 likes

## FAQ
### How much VRAM or RAM does MiniMax M3 need?
About 269.8 GB at Q4_K_M (weights 264.03 GB + KV cache + overhead) at a 4k context. Budget ~458.5 GB for Q8_0.
### Can MiniMax M3 run on a laptop?
MiniMax M3 is large; you need a high-memory Mac or a 24 GB+ GPU at Q4_K_M.
### Can I use MiniMax M3 commercially?
Conditionally: MiniMax Community License: free for most uses; very large deployments need a separate license..

Sources: https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3, https://huggingface.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M3-GGUF
More: https://localmodel.run/model/minimax-m3