Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB as fast as VRAM for Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO?

Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB 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.

Can Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO run on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

YES — Runs Great

C46Usable

Estimated from fit model

Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO needs ~9.9 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~26 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: 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

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 9.9 GB, 25.6 tok/s, Runs well

9.9 GB required25.9 GB available

38% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

25.6 tok/s

TTFT

7550 ms

Safe context

329K

Memory

9.9 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB

KV Cache0.8 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsNous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB
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: 25.6 tok/s decode · 7.5s TTFT (warm) · 64 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	C	Runs well	25.6 tok/s	4118 ms	329K
Coding	C	Runs well	25.6 tok/s	7550 ms	329K
Agentic Coding	C	Runs well	25.6 tok/s	10981 ms	329K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	25.6 tok/s	8922 ms	329K
RAG	C	Runs well	25.6 tok/s	13726 ms	329K

Quantization options

How Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO (7B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	2.7 GB	Low	C44
Q3_K_S	3	3.4 GB	Low	C44
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-nousresearch--nous-hermes-2-mistral-7b-dpo-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO well

MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GBBudget pick

48 GB Unified (+12)546 GB/s (+396)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 243%.87.8 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 243%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M3 Max 48GBBest value

48 GB Unified (+12)400 GB/s (+250)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 120%.56.2 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 120%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Max 96GBApple upgrade

96 GB Unified (+60)546 GB/s (+396)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 243%.87.8 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 243%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB run Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO?

Yes, MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB can run Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 25.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO need?

Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO (7B parameters) requires approximately 9.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO?

The recommended quantization for Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO run at on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB, Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO achieves approximately 25.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 7550ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB run Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO for coding?

For coding workloads, Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB receives a C grade with 25.6 tok/s and 329K context.

What context window can Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO use on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB, Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO can safely use up to 329K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB See all hardware for Nous Hermes 2 Mistral 7B DPO

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