Will It Run AI

Can Cerebras-GPT 13B run on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB?

YES — Runs Great

B63Good
Estimated from fit model

Cerebras-GPT 13B needs ~30.7 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB has 69.1 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~25 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced
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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

Q5_K_M (High quality) 30.7 GB, 25.3 tok/s, Runs well
30.7 GB required69.1 GB available
44% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

25.3 tok/s

TTFT

7658 ms

Safe context

79K

Memory

30.7 GB / 69.1 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.4 GB
KV Cache9.8 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom10.4 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsCerebras-GPT 13B on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step. Given information: - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour) - Time = 2.5 hours Formula: Distance = Speed x Time Calculation: Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h = 150 miles The train travels 150 miles. Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time. Breakdown: - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance) - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles Total distance: 150 miles (same) Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 25.3 tok/s decode · 7.7s TTFT (warm) · 63 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatBRuns well25.3 tok/s4177 ms79K
CodingBRuns well25.3 tok/s7658 ms79K
Agentic CodingBRuns well25.3 tok/s11138 ms79K
ReasoningBRuns well25.3 tok/s9050 ms79K
RAGBRuns well25.3 tok/s13923 ms79K

Quantization options

How Cerebras-GPT 13B (13B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB (69.1 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.1 GB
LowB56
Q3_K_S
3
6.4 GB
LowB56
NVFP4
4
7.3 GB
MediumB57
Q4_K_M
4
7.9 GB
MediumB57
Q5_K_M
5
9.4 GB
HighB57
Q6_K
6
10.7 GB
HighB57
Q8_0
8
13.9 GB
Very HighB58
F16Best for your GPU
16
26.7 GB
MaximumB60

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Cerebras-GPT 13B on your machine.

Run

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ggerganov/llama.cpp:full \ --hf-repo "cerebras/Cerebras-GPT-13B" \ --hf-file "Cerebras-GPT-13B-Q5_K_M.gguf" \ -c 4096 -ngl 99

Opciones de mejora

Hardware que ejecuta bien Cerebras-GPT 13B

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB run Cerebras-GPT 13B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB can run Cerebras-GPT 13B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 25.3 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Cerebras-GPT 13B need?

Cerebras-GPT 13B (13B parameters) requires approximately 30.7 GB of memory with Q5_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Cerebras-GPT 13B?

The recommended quantization for Cerebras-GPT 13B is Q5_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Cerebras-GPT 13B run at on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB?

On MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB, Cerebras-GPT 13B achieves approximately 25.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 7658ms using Q5_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB run Cerebras-GPT 13B for coding?

For coding workloads, Cerebras-GPT 13B on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB receives a B grade with 25.3 tok/s and 79K context.

What context window can Cerebras-GPT 13B use on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB?

On MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB, Cerebras-GPT 13B can safely use up to 79K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB as fast as VRAM for Cerebras-GPT 13B?

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.

See all results for MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GBSee all hardware for Cerebras-GPT 13B
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