DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B needs ~58.9 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB has 69.1 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~5 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
Fit status
Tight fit
Decode
5.9 tok/s
TTFT
32765 ms
Safe context
50K
Memory
58.9 GB / 69.1 GB
The model fits in shared memory, but shared-memory bandwidth is now the real limiter.
Fit does not mean dedicated-VRAM speed
Unified or shared memory can make a model technically fit, but sustained tokens per second may still trail a discrete high-bandwidth GPU with less total memory.
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.
Prioritize bandwidth, not only capacity
If this workload feels slow, the next useful step is often a GPU tier with materially faster memory bandwidth rather than only a small bump in capacity.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | A | Runs well | 5.9 tok/s | 17872 ms | 50K |
| Coding | A | Tight fit | 5.4 tok/s | 35632 ms | 50K |
| Agentic Coding | A | Tight fit | 5.9 tok/s | 47659 ms | 50K |
| Reasoning | A | Tight fit | 5.9 tok/s | 38723 ms | 50K |
| RAG | A | Tight fit | 5.9 tok/s | 59574 ms | 50K |
How DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B (70B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB (69.1 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 27.3 GB | Low | A71 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 34.3 GB | Low | A74 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B on your machine.
Run
ollama run deepseek-r1:70bYour hardware
| Model | Params | Grade | Decode | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Command A 111B | 111B | B | 2.9 tok/s | |
 Qwen 2.5 VL 72B | 72B | S | 5.7 tok/s |
Yes, MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 5.4 tok/s.
DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B (70B parameters) requires approximately 58.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B achieves approximately 5.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 35632ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB receives a A grade with 5.4 tok/s and 50K context.
On MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B can safely use up to 50K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, 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-r1-70b-on-m2-max-96gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
39.2 GB |
| Medium |
| A74 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 42.7 GB | Medium | A74 |
Q5_K_MBest for your GPU | 5 | 50.4 GB | High | A74 |
Q6_K | 6 | 57.4 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 74.9 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 143.5 GB | Maximum | F0 |
| Qwen3-Coder-Next | 80B | S | 17.2 tok/s |
| Qwen 2.5 72B | 72B | A | 5.7 tok/s |
 Llama 4 Scout 17B 16E | 109B | B | 7 tok/s |
Prioritize bandwidth, not only capacity. If this workload feels slow, the next useful step is often a GPU tier with materially faster memory bandwidth rather than only a small bump in capacity.
Not always. MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB 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.