Can Yi Coder 9B run on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB?

YES — Runs Great

B58Good

○Estimated from fit model

Yi Coder 9B needs ~35.5 GB VRAM. Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB has 184.3 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~110 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

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) — 35.5 GB, 110.3 tok/s, Runs well

35.5 GB required184.3 GB available

19% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

110.3 tok/s

TTFT

1755 ms

Safe context

131K

Memory

35.5 GB / 184.3 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache1.5 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom27.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsYi Coder 9B on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
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: 110.3 tok/s decode · 1.8s TTFT (warm) · 276 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

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	B	Runs well	110.3 tok/s	957 ms	131K
Coding	B	Runs well	110.3 tok/s	1755 ms	131K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	110.3 tok/s	2553 ms	131K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	110.3 tok/s	2074 ms	131K
RAG	B	Runs well	110.3 tok/s	3191 ms	131K

Quantization options

How Yi Coder 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB (184.3 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	C49
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	C49
NVFP4	4	5.0 GB	Medium	C49
Q4_K_M	4	5.5 GB	Medium	C49
Q5_K_M	5	6.5 GB	High	C49
Q6_K	6	7.4 GB	High	C49
Q8_0	8	9.6 GB	Very High	C49
F16Best for your GPU	16	18.5 GB	Maximum	C50

Get started

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

Run

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

Frequently asked questions

See all results for Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB See all hardware for Yi Coder 9B

URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/yi-coder-9b-on-m3-ultra-256gb

⇱ Yi Coder 9B on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB? YES