Nemotron 3.5 Lightning runs at 114 tok/s on an M5 Max, a published figure reported by huggingface.co (llama.cpp, Q4_K_M, 4K-token input). It needs about 18 GB of unified memory. It is NVIDIA's 30B mixture-of-experts model (3B active), released under the OpenMDW licence.
Want to run Nemotron 3.5 Lightning faster — or step up to bigger models? Find your Mac →This is a published figure: a real run, reported by its source and linked below. The index records it as given and never adjusts it.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Tokens per second | sourced114 tok/s |
| Provenance | published figure · huggingface.co |
| Quantization | Q4_K_M |
| Engine | llama.cpp |
| Context | 4K-token input |
| Figure dated | 2026-10-13 |
| Minimum RAM | 18 GB |
| Parameters | 30B MoE (3B active) |
| Chip bandwidth | 614 GB/s |
Each row as the index holds it, with its source. “Mac RAM” is the memory of the Mac a run used, not the model’s requirement (18 GB). The headline figure follows the reference rule: the lower-median measured plain-decode run at 5 bits or fewer (a run whose quant was not stated counts only when no stated-quant run qualifies), else the estimate; a run marked “not used to anchor estimates” is listed here but never becomes the headline.
| Speed | Quant | Engine | Mac RAM | Context | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sourced114 tok/s | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | — | 4K-token input | huggingface.co | Competitor baseline on Liquid AI's LFM2.5-24B-A2B card (Pipette, llama.cpp). |
Ollama — install it (brew install ollama or the app from ollama.com), then pull the model by its tag, checked on ollama.com on 2026-10-17:
MLX — pick a build from Hugging Face’s MLX listings, then run it with its repo id:
Downloads: Search the Ollama library → · model card →
The 114 tok/s figure above came from llama.cpp at Q4_K_M; other runtimes and quants run at different speeds.
Prefer a GUI? LM Studio downloads GGUF and MLX builds in one click. Step by step: install Ollama on a Mac.
| Chip | Speed | Quant | Engine | Bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4 Max | estimated108 tok/s | Q4_K_M | MLX | 546 GB/s |
| M4 Pro | estimated64 tok/s | Q4_K_M | Ollama | 273 GB/s |
| M6 | community45 tok/s | Q4_K_M | llama.cpp | 170 GB/s |
NVIDIA's OpenMDW 30B MoE with 3B active and 1M context, built for throughput. It fits a 24 GB Mac at 4-bit; Liquid AI's published baseline lists 114 tok/s on an M5 Max (llama.cpp Q4_K_M), and a community run measured ~45 tok/s on a Mac mini M6.
OpenMDW licence · 30B MoE · 1000K context · LLMCheck capability 36/50 · see its leaderboard rank →
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning needs about 18 GB of unified memory. These current Apple Silicon Macs have the headroom to run it comfortably:
As an Amazon Associate, LLMCheck earns from qualifying purchases. These affiliate links cost you nothing extra and help keep the LLMCheck index free.
See how Nemotron 3.5 Lightning stacks up against other models on your specific Mac hardware.
Open Compare Tool Full Leaderboard