Run Qwen 3 30B-A3B on M3 Max

Yes — Qwen 3 30B-A3B (30B) runs at 28 tok/s on M3 Max with 36 GB RAM using Q4_K_M quantization via Ollama. First token latency is 1.3s. Alibaba's 30B MoE activating 3B params — large-model quality at mid-RAM cost.

Speed

tok/s

First Token

1.3

seconds

RAM Needed

GB minimum

Engine

Ollama

recommended

Benchmark Details

LLMCheck measured Qwen 3 30B-A3B on M3 Max using the standard methodology: Q4_K_M quantization, 256-token input, 512-token output, 3 runs averaged on a freshly-booted system.

Metric	Value
Tokens per second	28 tok/s
Time to first token	1.3s
Quantization	Q4_K_M
Minimum RAM	36 GB
Recommended engine	Ollama
Parameters	30B
Benchmark date	2026-01

Q4_K_M 30B Ollama M3 Max

Setup Guide: Run Qwen 3 30B-A3B on M3 Max

The recommended engine for Qwen 3 30B-A3B on M3 Max is Ollama. Install Ollama, then pull the model:

ollama run qwen3:30b-a3b

Ollama handles quantization automatically — it will download the Q4_K_M variant (~36 GB) and start an interactive chat session.

Performance on Other Apple Silicon Chips

Chip	Speed	First Token	Min RAM	Engine
M5 Max	62 tok/s	0.7s	64 GB	Ollama
M4 Max	42 tok/s	0.9s	48 GB	Ollama
M4 Pro	35 tok/s	1.0s	24 GB	MLX

System Requirements

To run Qwen 3 30B-A3B on M3 Max you need:

• Mac with M3 Max chip (or newer)
• 36 GB unified memory minimum
• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• ~30-36 GB free disk space for the model file
• Ollama installed (see our Ollama install guide)

Compare More Models

See how Qwen 3 30B-A3B stacks up against other models on your specific Mac hardware.

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