What Can the Apple M3 Max Run?
36 GB · compatibility with 168 AI models
Short answer: the Apple M3 Max (36 GB) can run 168 of 168 AI image, video, 3D and audio models we track. Best picks: SDXL Base 1.0, SDXL img2img, Stable Diffusion 1.5, SD 1.5 img2img, SD 1.5 Inpainting. Unified memory.
| Perfect | Great | Good | Usable | Barely | Can't Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 models | 0 models | 36 models | 65 models | 54 models | 0 models |
Apple M3 Max specs for AI
| Brand | Apple |
|---|---|
| Series | M3 |
| VRAM | 36 GB |
| Architecture | m3 |
| FP16 compute | 14.2 TFLOPS |
| Memory bandwidth | 400 GB/s |
| Released | 2023 |
AI models on the Apple M3 Max
Each model uses the best format that fits in 36 GB. How ratings work.
Text to Image
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stable Diffusion 1.5 | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| Stable Diffusion 1.4 | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| Stable Diffusion 2.1 | Good | FP16 | 5 GB | Fast |
| PixArt-Alpha 600M | Good | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| Stable Diffusion 2.0 | Good | FP16 | 5 GB | Fast |
| SDXL Base 1.0 | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| SDXL Turbo | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium (2.5B) | Good | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Animagine XL 3.1 | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Pony Diffusion v6 XL | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| NoobAI XL | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Juggernaut XL Ragnarok | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| SDXL Lightning 4-step | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| DreamShaper XL | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Illustrious XL v1.0 | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Playground v2.5 2.6B | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| RealVisXL v5.0 | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Epicrealism XL | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| PixArt-Sigma 900M | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Stable Diffusion 3 Medium (2B) | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| SDXL Hyper 1-step | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| HunyuanDiT 1.5B | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Z-Image Turbo | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| MOSS-Image 5B | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| Flux.2 Klein 4B | Usable | FP16 | 13 GB | Fast |
| Flux.1 Lite | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| AuraFlow 0.3 | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| Qwen-Image 2.1 | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| Z-Image Base | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| Ming-Image 0.1 Design | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| ERNIE-Image 8B | Usable | FP16 | 16 GB | Moderate |
| HiDream-O1-Image 8.8B | Usable | FP16 | 16 GB | Moderate |
| Seedream 3.0 | Usable | FP16 | 16 GB | Moderate |
| GLM-Image | Usable | FP16 | 16 GB | Moderate |
| Kolors | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| FLUX.2 Klein 9B | Barely | FP16 | 18 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large (8B) | Barely | FP16 | 18 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large Turbo | Barely | FP16 | 18 GB | Moderate |
| Chroma1 HD | Barely | FP16 | 18 GB | Moderate |
| Ideogram 4.0 | Barely | FP16 | 19 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanImage 3.0 | Barely | FP16 | 20 GB | Moderate |
| Qwen-Image 2512 (20B) | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Moderate |
| Flux.1 Dev 12B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| Flux.1 Schnell 12B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| FLUX.1 Krea Dev | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| Krea 2 Turbo | Barely | FP16 | 26 GB | Moderate |
| Flux.2 Dev 32B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 18 GB | Slow |
Image to Image
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 img2img | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| InstructPix2Pix | Good | FP16 | 5 GB | Fast |
| SDXL img2img | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| IP-Adapter SDXL | Usable | FP16 | 9 GB | Fast |
| IP-Adapter FaceID SDXL | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| Mage-Flow 4B | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| LongCat-Image Edit | Usable | FP16 | 15 GB | Moderate |
| Boogu-Image Edit | Barely | FP16 | 21 GB | Moderate |
| Qwen-Image-Edit 2511 | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Moderate |
| Flux.1 Dev img2img 12B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| Flux Kontext Dev | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
Inpainting
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 Inpainting | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| SDXL Inpainting | Good | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| BrushNet | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| PowerPaint v2.1 | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Flux.1 Fill Dev | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
ControlNet
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ControlNet SD 1.5 | Good | FP16 | 5 GB | Fast |
| ControlNet SDXL | Usable | FP16 | 9 GB | Fast |
| T2I-Adapter SDXL | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| ControlNet Flux | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
Video
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WAN 2.1 T2V 1.3B | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| AnimateDiff Lightning | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| AnimateDiff v3 (SD 1.5) | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| ZeroScope v2 576w | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| AnimateDiff V2V | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| AnimateDiff I2V | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| Stable Video Diffusion 1.1 | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| CogVideoX 2B | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| ModelScope T2V | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| TokenFlow | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Latte | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| SEINE | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Kandinsky 6.0 Video Lite 3B | Usable | FP16 | 9 GB | Fast |
| LTX-Video 0.9 (2B) | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| LTX-Video I2V | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| Stable Video Diffusion XT 1.1 (25 frames) | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| DynamiCrafter 512 | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| WAN 2.2 TI2V 5B | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| AnimateDiff SDXL | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| Waver 1.0 | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| CogVideoX 5B | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| CogVideoX 5B I2V | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| SkyReels V1 | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| SkyReels V1 I2V | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| DynamiCrafter 1024 | Barely | FP16 | 18 GB | Moderate |
| LTX-2 19B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 11 GB | Moderate |
| Ovi 1.1 | Barely | FP16 | 23 GB | Moderate |
| MiniMax H3 FL2VA | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Moderate |
| MiniMax H3 Ref2VA | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Moderate |
| LTX-2.5 22B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 13 GB | Moderate |
| LTX-2.3 22B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 13 GB | Moderate |
| Open-Sora 2.0 (11B) | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| MAGI-1 | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.2 T2V A14B (MoE) | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.2 I2V A14B | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.1 T2V 14B | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.1 I2V 480P 14B | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.1 V2V | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanVideo T2V v1.5 | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanVideo I2V v1.5 | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanVideo 13B T2V | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanVideo I2V | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| LTX-Video 13B | Barely | FP16 | 28 GB | Moderate |
| LongCat-Video 13.6B | Barely | FP16 | 27 GB | Moderate |
| MOVA | Barely | FP16 | 29 GB | Moderate |
| SkyReels V3 R2V 14B | Barely | FP16 | 29 GB | Moderate |
| WAN 2.1 I2V 720P 14B | Barely | FP16 | 32 GB | Moderate |
| FramePack I2V HY FP8 | Barely | FP16 | 32 GB | Moderate |
| Wan 2.2 S2V 14B | Barely | FP16 | 33 GB | Moderate |
| Wan-Animate-2 14B | Barely | FP16 | 33 GB | Moderate |
| SCAIL-2 14B | Barely | FP16 | 33 GB | Moderate |
| Wan-Dancer 14B | Barely | FP16 | 34 GB | Moderate |
| HuMo 17B | Barely | FP16 | 34 GB | Moderate |
| Mochi 1 10B | Barely | Offload | 16 GB | Very Slow |
| Wan 2.2 Animate 14B | Barely | FP16 | 35 GB | Moderate |
Upscaler
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x-UltraSharp | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| 4x-Remacri | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| SwinIR | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| RealESRGAN x4plus | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| HAT | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| DAT | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| ScuNET | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| LDSR | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| SeedVR2 3B | Usable | FP16 | 9 GB | Fast |
| SeedVR2 7B | Usable | FP16 | 16 GB | Moderate |
Face/Restore
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GFPGAN v1.4 | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| CodeFormer v0.1 | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
VAE
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 VAE ft-mse | Perfect | FP32 | 0.2 GB | Fast |
| Flux VAE | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| SDXL VAE | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| TAESD / TAESDXL | Perfect | FP32 | 0.1 GB | Fast |
3D
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TripoSR | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| Shap-E | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| InstantMesh | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| Zero123++ v1.2 | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| LGM | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| One-2-3-45 | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Hunyuan3D 2.1 | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| SV3D | Usable | FP16 | 10 GB | Fast |
| Hunyuan3D 2.0 | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| Pixal3D | Usable | FP16 | 14 GB | Moderate |
| TRELLIS.2 4B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| SAM 3D Objects | Barely | FP16 | 32 GB | Moderate |
Audio
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MusicGen Small (300M) | Good | FP16 | 2 GB | Fast |
| XTTS v2 | Good | FP16 | 3 GB | Fast |
| Whisper Large v3 | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| MusicGen Medium (1.5B) | Good | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| Stable Audio Open | Good | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| Bark | Good | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| Stable Audio 3 Small-SFX | Usable | FP16 | 3 GB | Fast |
| Qwen3-TTS 1.7B | Usable | FP16 | 5 GB | Fast |
| Chatterbox Multilingual | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| MMAudio Large 44k | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Fast |
| IndexTTS 2.5 | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Fast |
| ACE-Step 1.5 Turbo | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Fast |
| VibeVoice 1.5B | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| Stable Audio 3 Medium | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Fast |
| MusicGen Large (3.3B) | Usable | FP16 | 12 GB | Fast |
| YuE2 3B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| MiniMax Music 3 | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
| Fish Audio S2 Pro 4B | Barely | FP16 | 24 GB | Moderate |
Frequently asked questions
How much VRAM does the Apple M3 Max have?
The Apple M3 Max has 36 GB of unified memory (shared with the CPU) with 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
What AI models can the Apple M3 Max run?
It can run 168 of the 168 AI models we track: 13 perfectly (S), 0 great (A), 36 good (B), 65 usable (C) and 54 barely (D). 0 need more VRAM than it has.
Can the Apple M3 Max run MiniMax H3 FL2VA?
Yes, in GGUF Q4 (rating D, barely).
Can the Apple M3 Max run MiniMax H3 Ref2VA?
Yes, in GGUF Q4 (rating D, barely).
Can the Apple M3 Max run Qwen-Image 2.1?
Yes, in FP16 (rating C, usable).
Can the Apple M3 Max run Z-Image Turbo?
Yes, in FP16 (rating C, usable).