Can BGE M3 run on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

Q: Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB as fast as VRAM for BGE M3?

Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can often fit larger models thanks to unified memory, but a discrete GPU with dedicated high-bandwidth VRAM may still decode faster once the model fits. For this combination, the important distinction is capacity versus sustained throughput.

YES — Runs Great

A74Great

Estimated from fit model

BGE M3 needs ~16.5 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB has 92.2 GB. With F16 quantization, expect ~8 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

F16 (Maximum quality) — 17.3 GB, 8.0 tok/s, Runs well

17.3 GB required92.2 GB available

19% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

8.0 tok/s

TTFT

24346 ms

Safe context

Memory

17.3 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.2 GB

KV Cache1.1 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsBGE M3 on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 8.0 tok/s decode · 24.3s TTFT (warm) · 20 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Shared-memory contention still exists

The OS, browser, and inference runtime all compete for the same physical memory pool, so real-world headroom is less forgiving than raw capacity suggests.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	13280 ms	8K
Coding	A	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	24346 ms	8K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	35412 ms	8K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	28773 ms	8K
RAG	A	Runs well	8.0 tok/s	44266 ms	8K

Quantization options

How BGE M3 (0.5680000185966492B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	0.2 GB	Low	A75
Q3_K_S	3	0.3 GB	Low	A75
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run BGE M3 on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \
  --hf-repo "BAAI/bge-m3" \
  --hf-file "bge-m3-F16.gguf" \
  -c 4096 -ngl 99

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Devstral 2 123B Instruct	123B	S	3.2 tok/s
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run BGE M3?

Yes, MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run BGE M3 with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 8.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does BGE M3 need?

BGE M3 (0.5680000185966492B parameters) requires approximately 16.5 GB of memory with F16 quantization.

What is the best quantization for BGE M3?

The recommended quantization for BGE M3 is F16, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will BGE M3 run at on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, BGE M3 achieves approximately 8.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 24346ms using F16 quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run BGE M3 for coding?

For coding workloads, BGE M3 on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB receives a A grade with 8.0 tok/s and 8K context.

What context window can BGE M3 use on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, BGE M3 can safely use up to 8K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 8K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB as fast as VRAM for BGE M3?

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB See all hardware for BGE M3

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