Can the Apple M2 Pro (32GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M2 Pro (32GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 21.4 GB available, at roughly 19 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Llama 3.2 3B:
ollama run llama3.2:3bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 3.5 GB here). You have room for FP16, which is full quality: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.
Run it in the cloud
No Apple M2 Pro (32GB)? Run Llama 3.2 3B in the cloud.
Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.
Memory needed by quantization
At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 21.4 GB the Apple M2 Pro (32GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 21.4 GB of the 32 GB unified memory by default.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 8 GB | Fits | ~19 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 5 GB | Fits | ~35 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 4.2 GB | Fits | ~46 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 3.8 GB | Fits | ~53 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 3.5 GB | Fits | ~62 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 3.1 GB | Fits | ~76 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 2.7 GB | Fits | ~100 tok/s |
GPUs that run Llama 3.2 3B comfortably
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M2 Pro (32GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
Yes. The Apple M2 Pro (32GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 21.4 GB available, at roughly 19 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B need?
About 3.5 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 8 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Llama 3.2 3B on the Apple M2 Pro (32GB)?
Roughly 19 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M2 Pro (32GB)'s 200 GB/s memory bandwidth.