DeepSeek LLM 7B needs ~14.4 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB has 13.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~22 tok/s.
Operating mode
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.
Select quantization to explore
1.4 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM)
Decode
21.5 tok/s
TTFT
9004 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
14.4 GB / 13.0 GB
Offload
10%
It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.
CPU or host-memory offload is active
About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.
Very little memory headroom
You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.
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.
Remove offload with more accelerator memory
Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.
Buy headroom, not only minimum fit
A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.
Increase host RAM if you keep offloading
This setup may need roughly 0.4 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | C | Tight fit | 25.6 tok/s | 4118 ms | 4K |
| Coding | D | Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM) | 21.5 tok/s | 9004 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 13.2 tok/s | 21312 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | D | Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM) | 21.5 tok/s | 10641 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 13.2 tok/s | 26640 ms |
How DeepSeek LLM 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB (13.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 2.7 GB | Low | C47 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 3.4 GB | Low | C47 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run DeepSeek LLM 7B on your machine.
Run
ollama run deepseek-llmUpgrade options
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$799 MSRP
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
Raises estimated decode speed by about 356%.
~$899 MSRP
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,099 MSRP
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,099 MSRP
Yes, MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB can run DeepSeek LLM 7B with a D grade (Very compromised (needs ~0.4 GB host RAM)). Expected decode speed: 21.5 tok/s.
DeepSeek LLM 7B (7B parameters) requires approximately 14.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for DeepSeek LLM 7B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB, DeepSeek LLM 7B achieves approximately 21.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 9004ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, DeepSeek LLM 7B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB receives a D grade with 21.5 tok/s and 4K context.
On MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB, DeepSeek LLM 7B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 4K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/deepseek-llm-7b-on-m3-pro-18gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| 4K |
3.9 GB |
| Medium |
| C48 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 4.3 GB | Medium | C49 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 5.0 GB | High | C49 |
Q6_K | 6 | 5.7 GB | High | C50 |
Q8_0Best for your GPU | 8 | 7.5 GB | Very High | C50 |
F16 | 16 | 14.3 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.
Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB 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.