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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/yi-coder-9b-on-m3-pro-18gb


Can Yi Coder 9B run on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB?

YES — Runs Great

B64Good
Estimated from fit model

Yi Coder 9B needs ~9.8 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB has 13.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~20 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
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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) — 9.8 GB, 21.7 tok/s, Runs well
9.8 GB required13.0 GB available
75% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

21.7 tok/s

TTFT

8926 ms

Safe context

51K

Memory

9.8 GB / 13.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB
KV Cache1.5 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom1.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsYi Coder 9B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort: def quicksort(arr): if len(arr) <= 1: return arr pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2] left = [x for x in arr if x < pivot] middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot] right = [x for x in arr if x > pivot] return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right) # Example usage numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1] print(quicksort(numbers)) # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10] The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]: """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm. Args: arr: List of integers to sort. Returns: A new sorted list. """ if len(arr) <= 1: return arr pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2] left = [x for x in arr if x < pivot] middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot] right = [x for x in arr if x > pivot] return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right) Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 21.7 tok/s decode · 8.9s TTFT (warm) · 54 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 well19.9 tok/s5294 ms51K
CodingBRuns well19.9 tok/s9707 ms51K
Agentic CodingBTight fit19.9 tok/s14119 ms51K
ReasoningBRuns well19.9 tok/s11471 ms51K
RAGBTight fit19.9 tok/s17648 ms51K

Quantization options

How Yi Coder 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB (13.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
3.5 GB
LowB61
Q3_K_S
3
4.4 GB
LowB62
NVFP4
4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Yi Coder 9B on your machine.

Run

lms load Yi-Coder-9B-Chat && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Yi Coder 9B well

👁 Intel
Intel Arc A770 16GBBudget pick
560 GB/s (+410)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 130%.49.9 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 130%.

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

~$349 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX 5060 Ti 16GBBest value
448 GB/s (+298)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 153%.55 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 153%.

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

~$449 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GBSee all hardware for Yi Coder 9B
5.0 GB
Medium
B63
Q4_K_M
4
5.5 GB
MediumB64
Q5_K_M
5
6.5 GB
HighB64
Q6_K
6
7.4 GB
HighB64
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
9.6 GB
Very HighB63
F16
16
18.5 GB
MaximumF0

Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB 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.