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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/cerebras-gpt-13b-on-m2-ultra-128gb

⇱ Cerebras-GPT 13B on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB? YES


Can Cerebras-GPT 13B run on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

B64Good
Estimated from fit model

Cerebras-GPT 13B needs ~34.1 GB VRAM. Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~51 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced
Share:

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) — 34.1 GB, 50.6 tok/s, Runs well
34.1 GB required92.2 GB available
37% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

50.6 tok/s

TTFT

3829 ms

Safe context

111K

Memory

34.1 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.4 GB
KV Cache9.8 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsCerebras-GPT 13B on Mac Studio M2 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: 50.6 tok/s decode · 3.8s TTFT (warm) · 126 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 well50.6 tok/s2088 ms111K
CodingBRuns well50.6 tok/s3829 ms111K
Agentic CodingBRuns well50.6 tok/s5569 ms111K
ReasoningBRuns well50.6 tok/s4525 ms111K
RAGBRuns well50.6 tok/s6961 ms111K

Quantization options

How Cerebras-GPT 13B (13B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.1 GB
LowB55
Q3_K_S
3
6.4 GB
LowB55
NVFP4
4
7.3 GB
MediumB55
Q4_K_M
4
7.9 GB
MediumB56
Q5_K_M
5
9.4 GB
HighB56
Q6_K
6
10.7 GB
HighB56
Q8_0
8
13.9 GB
Very HighB56
F16Best for your GPU
16
26.7 GB
MaximumB58

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

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Cerebras-GPT 13B well

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition 96GBBudget pick
1792 GB/s (+992)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 224%.164 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 224%.

~$9,999 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GBBest value
1597 GB/s (+797)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 189%.146.2 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 189%.

~$9,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GBSee all hardware for Cerebras-GPT 13B