Llama 3.1 70B needs ~51.1 GB but Mac mini M2 24GB only has 17.3 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.
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
33.8 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
2.0 tok/s
TTFT
96800 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
51.1 GB / 17.3 GB
Offload
70%
Usable shared or unified memory is the main blocker for this model.
Not enough usable memory
The model needs 51.1 GB, but this setup only exposes 17.3 GB of usable shared or unified memory.
Move to a larger memory pool
A larger unified-memory SKU or a discrete high-bandwidth GPU is the cleanest way to make this model practical.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 52800 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 96800 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 140800 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 114400 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 2.0 tok/s | 176000 ms | 4K |
How Llama 3.1 70B (70B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac mini M2 24GB (17.3 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 27.3 GB | Low | F0 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 34.3 GB | Low | F0 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Upgrade options
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$2,499 MSRP
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$2,499 MSRP
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$3,999 MSRP
NVIDIA H100 80GBBiggest leapMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$40,000 MSRP
No, Llama 3.1 70B requires more memory than Mac mini M2 24GB provides.
Llama 3.1 70B (70B parameters) requires approximately 51.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Llama 3.1 70B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On Mac mini M2 24GB, Llama 3.1 70B achieves approximately 2.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 96800ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Llama 3.1 70B on Mac mini M2 24GB receives a F grade with 2.0 tok/s and 4K context.
On Mac mini M2 24GB, Llama 3.1 70B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Move to a larger memory pool. A larger unified-memory SKU or a discrete high-bandwidth GPU is the cleanest way to make this model practical.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/llama-3.1-70b-on-m2-24gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| Medium |
| F0 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 42.7 GB | Medium | F0 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 50.4 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 57.4 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 74.9 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 143.5 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Not always. Mac mini M2 24GB 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.
