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⇱ Cerebras-GPT 13B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB? TIGHT FIT


Can Cerebras-GPT 13B run on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B63Good
Estimated from fit model

Cerebras-GPT 13B needs ~24.2 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q5_K_M quantization, expect ~12 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: TightBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
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) — 24.2 GB, 11.9 tok/s, Tight fit
24.2 GB required25.9 GB available
93% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

11.9 tok/s

TTFT

16224 ms

Safe context

19K

Memory

24.2 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.4 GB
KV Cache9.8 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsCerebras-GPT 13B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB
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: 11.9 tok/s decode · 16.2s TTFT (warm) · 30 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

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

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatBRuns well11.9 tok/s8850 ms19K
CodingBTight fit11.9 tok/s16224 ms19K
Agentic CodingFToo heavy8.2 tok/s34515 ms19K
ReasoningBTight fit11.9 tok/s19174 ms19K
RAGFToo heavy8.2 tok/s43144 ms19K

Quantization options

How Cerebras-GPT 13B (13B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.1 GB
LowB61
Q3_K_S
3
6.4 GB
LowB62
NVFP4
4
7.3 GB
MediumB62
Q4_K_M
4
7.9 GB
MediumB63
Q5_K_M
5
9.4 GB
HighB63
Q6_K
6
10.7 GB
HighB64
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
13.9 GB
Very HighB66
F16
16
26.7 GB
MaximumF0

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

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GBBudget pick
64 GB Unified (+28)273 GB/s (+123)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 70%.20.2 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 70%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,599 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GBBest value
48 GB Unified (+12)546 GB/s (+396)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 177%.33 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 177%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M3 Max 48GBApple upgrade
48 GB Unified (+12)400 GB/s (+250)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 120%.26.2 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 120%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GBSee all hardware for Cerebras-GPT 13B