Question 1

Can I run DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B on a Apple M3 Max?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Apple M3 Max runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B fully on GPU at the Q8_0 quantization. Full GPU inference — 128 GB VRAM meets the 12 GB recommendation.

Question 2

What quantization of DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B should I use on a Apple M3 Max?

Accepted Answer

For 128 GB VRAM on the Apple M3 Max, the Q8_0 variant is the best fit. Estimated ~44.8 tokens/sec on the Q8_0 quantization.

Question 3

How fast does DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B run on Apple M3 Max?

Accepted Answer

Roughly 44.8 tokens/sec for Q8_0. Real speed depends on context length, backend (Ollama, llama.cpp, LM Studio), and KV cache size.

Question 4

What if Apple M3 Max is not enough for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B?

Accepted Answer

Try a smaller quantization variant or run on CPU + RAM with the trade-off of slower generation.

Quantization	File Size	Min VRAM	Rec VRAM	Context	Verdict	Estimated tok/s
Q4_K_M	4.9 GB	5.5 GB	8 GB	8K / 128K	Full GPU	~65.3
Q8_0Best fit	8.5 GB	9.5 GB	12 GB	8K / 128K	Full GPU	~44.8

Can I Run DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B on Apple M3 Max?

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Every DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B quantization on Apple M3 Max