Question 1

Can I run Gemma 4 31B on a Apple M2 Max?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Apple M2 Max runs Gemma 4 31B fully on GPU at the Q8_0 quantization. Full GPU inference — 96 GB VRAM meets the 40 GB recommendation.

Question 2

What quantization of Gemma 4 31B should I use on a Apple M2 Max?

Accepted Answer

For 96 GB VRAM on the Apple M2 Max, the Q8_0 variant is the best fit. Estimated ~11.5 tokens/sec on the Q8_0 quantization.

Question 3

How fast does Gemma 4 31B run on Apple M2 Max?

Accepted Answer

Roughly 11.5 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 M2 Max is not enough for Gemma 4 31B?

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
Q3_K_M	14.5 GB	16.5 GB	20 GB	8K / 256K	Full GPU	~19
Q4_K_M	18.4 GB	20.5 GB	24 GB	8K / 256K	Full GPU	~17.4
Q8_0Best fit	33.2 GB	35 GB	40 GB	8K / 256K	Full GPU	~11.5

Can I Run Gemma 4 31B on Apple M2 Max?

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