text model · mistral · macOS
Can I run Mistral Small 3 24B on Apple M3 Pro (18GB)?
No. Mistral Small 3 24B needs ~16.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M3 Pro (18GB) only has ~12 GB usable.
Needs ~16.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~12 GB is usable.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~16.3 GB
- Usable on device
- ~12 GB
- Device memory
- 18 GB
- Parameters
- 24B
- Q4_K_M size
- 14.33 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 25.05 GB
- Context
- 128k
- Ollama tag
- mistral-small3.2:24b
- Memory
- 18 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~12 GB
- Best runtime
- Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend) / MLX
What you can run instead
Run Mistral Small 3 24B on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M3 Pro (18GB) run Mistral Small 3 24B?
No. Mistral Small 3 24B needs ~16.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M3 Pro (18GB) only has ~12 GB usable.
How much memory does Mistral Small 3 24B need?
Apple M3 Pro (18GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~14.33 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~16.3 GB at a 4k context.
What is the best tool to run Mistral Small 3 24B 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.
Sources
Memory figures are estimates. See methodology.