Question 1

Can the Apple M3 Max run llama3.1 8B?

Accepted Answer

llama3.1 8B needs about 5.4GB working set (weights 4.9GB + KV cache 0.5GB at 4k context). The Apple M3 Max offers ~34GB usable — verdict: full. 5.4 GB needed of 34 GB usable — headroom for context

Question 2

How fast is llama3.1 8B on the Apple M3 Max?

Accepted Answer

~45–65 tok/s on the Apple M3 Max. computed roofline: 400 GB/s × 0.55–0.80 efficiency window / 4.9GB (Q4_K_M) — bands, never points.

Question 3

What should I run llama3.1 8B on instead?

Accepted Answer

Tesla P100 (16GB, used) runs it fully ($135).

Can the Apple M3 Max run llama3.1 8B?

Run llama3.1 8B on instead