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Can the Apple M4 Pro (24GB) run Gemma 3 27B?

Apple M4 Pro (24GB) × Gemma 3 27B8K context
Yes, with heavy quantizationFits only at a low-quality quant
Memory at Q3_K_M15.1 GB of 16.1 GB
Weights 13.4 GBKV cache 1.1 GBRuntime 0.6 GB
QuantQ3_K_MNoticeably degraded
Speed~12tokens per second
Max context18Ktokens that fit at Q3_K_M
  1. FP16
  2. Q8_0
  3. Q6_K
  4. Q5_K_M
  5. Q4_K_M
  6. Q3_K_M
  7. Q2_K

Only just. Gemma 3 27B fits on the Apple M4 Pro (24GB) at Q3_K_M, which costs noticeable quality. Expect about 12 tokens/second. A card with more memory is a better experience.

Try other context lengths

Run it with Ollama

Ollama's default gemma3:27b download is Q4_K_M, which needs about 18.3 GB, more than the 16.1 GB available. Download the Q3_K_M GGUF instead (LM Studio lists quants per model), or try a smaller context length.

New to this? Step-by-step setup for the Apple M4 Pro (24GB)

Run it in the cloud

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Memory needed by quantization

At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 16.1 GB the Apple M4 Pro (24GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 16.1 GB of the 24 GB unified memory by default.

QuantQualityMemoryFits?Speed
FP16Full quality56.5 GBToo big—
Q8_0Near-lossless30.8 GBToo big—
Q6_KExcellent24.2 GBToo big—
Q5_K_MVery good21.2 GBToo big—
Q4_K_MGood, most popular18.3 GBToo big—
Q3_K_MNoticeably degraded15.1 GBFits~12 tok/s
Q2_KHeavily degraded12 GBFits~16 tok/s

Measured speed from real Apple M4 Pro (24GB) owners

Tokens per second that people measured on their own Apple M4 Pro (24GB), next to our estimate.

No one has measured Gemma 3 27B on the Apple M4 Pro (24GB) yet. The speeds above are estimates. Run the benchmark and yours becomes the first real number on this page.

Have an Apple M4 Pro (24GB)? Add your real speed

One command times Gemma 3 27B in your own Ollama, shows you exactly what it would send, and asks before sending anything. No sign-up, no personal data.

macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://gpufit.dev/bench.sh | sh -s -- gemma3:27b

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:GPUFIT_MODEL="gemma3:27b"; irm https://gpufit.dev/bench.ps1 | iex

How the benchmark works

GPUs that run Gemma 3 27B comfortably

Check Radeon RX 7900 XT prices

Models that run well on the Apple M4 Pro (24GB)

Frequently asked questions

Can Apple M4 Pro (24GB) run Gemma 3 27B?

Only just. Gemma 3 27B fits on the Apple M4 Pro (24GB) at Q3_K_M, which costs noticeable quality. Expect about 12 tokens/second. A card with more memory is a better experience.

How much VRAM does Gemma 3 27B need?

About 18.3 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 56.5 GB at full FP16 precision.

How fast is Gemma 3 27B on the Apple M4 Pro (24GB)?

Roughly 12 tokens per second at Q3_K_M, estimated from the Apple M4 Pro (24GB)'s 273 GB/s memory bandwidth.