Can Mixtral 8x22B run on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB?

BARELY — Tight on Memory

C50Usable
Estimated from fit model

Mixtral 8x22B needs ~104.2 GB VRAM. Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~9 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload
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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

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) 104.2 GB, 8.7 tok/s, Very compromised (needs ~9.9 GB host RAM)
104.2 GB required92.2 GB available
113% VRAM needed

12.0 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Very compromised (needs ~9.9 GB host RAM)

Decode

8.7 tok/s

TTFT

22137 ms

Safe context

4K

Memory

104.2 GB / 92.2 GB

Offload

10%

Memory breakdown

Weights86.0 GB
KV Cache3.4 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsMixtral 8x22B on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB
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: 8.7 tok/s decode · 22.1s TTFT (warm) · 22 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

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.

Best improvement path

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 9.9 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatCVery compromised (needs ~8.6 GB host RAM)8.9 tok/s11810 ms4K
CodingCVery compromised (needs ~9.9 GB host RAM)8.7 tok/s22137 ms4K
Agentic CodingCVery compromised (needs ~12.3 GB host RAM)8.4 tok/s33583 ms4K
ReasoningCVery compromised (needs ~9.9 GB host RAM)8.7 tok/s26162 ms4K
RAGCVery compromised (needs ~12.3 GB host RAM)8.4 tok/s41979 ms4K

Quantization options

How Mixtral 8x22B (141B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
55.0 GB
LowB61
Q3_K_SBest for your GPU
3
69.1 GB
LowB61
NVFP4
4
79.0 GB
MediumF0
Q4_K_M
4
86.0 GB
MediumF0
Q5_K_M
5
101.5 GB
HighF0
Q6_K
6
115.6 GB
HighF0
Q8_0
8
150.9 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
289.0 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Mixtral 8x22B on your machine.

Run

ollama run mixtral:8x22b

アップグレードオプション

Mixtral 8x22Bを快適に動かすハードウェア

Frequently asked questions

Can Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB run Mixtral 8x22B?

Yes, Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB can run Mixtral 8x22B with a C grade (Very compromised (needs ~9.9 GB host RAM)). Expected decode speed: 8.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Mixtral 8x22B need?

Mixtral 8x22B (141B parameters) requires approximately 104.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Mixtral 8x22B?

The recommended quantization for Mixtral 8x22B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Mixtral 8x22B run at on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB?

On Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB, Mixtral 8x22B achieves approximately 8.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 22137ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB run Mixtral 8x22B for coding?

For coding workloads, Mixtral 8x22B on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB receives a C grade with 8.7 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Mixtral 8x22B use on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB?

On Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB, Mixtral 8x22B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 66K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Mixtral 8x22B feels slow on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB?

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.

Is unified memory on Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB as fast as VRAM for Mixtral 8x22B?

Not always. Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB 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 Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GBSee all hardware for Mixtral 8x22B
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