Apple M2 Max meets the minimum VRAM requirement for Q4 inference of bigcode/starcoder2-3b. Review the quantization breakdown below to see how higher precision settings impact VRAM and throughput.
Apple M2 Max can run bigcode/starcoder2-3b with Q4 quantization. At approximately 66 tokens/second, you can expect Good speed - acceptable for interactive use.
You have 94GB headroom, which is sufficient for system overhead and smooth operation.
| Quantization | VRAM needed | VRAM available | Estimated speed | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 2GB | 96GB | 65.54 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |
| Q8 | 3GB | 96GB | 44.32 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |
| FP16 | 6GB | 96GB | 24.15 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |