Qwen 3.5 9B runs at 167 tok/s on a 256 GB M5 Ultra, a community run reported by bohemiansilicon.com (MLX, 4-bit, 512-token random prompt, 128 generated, empty context, mean of 2). It needs about 7 GB of unified memory. It is Alibaba's 9B dense model, released under the Apache 2.0 licence.
Want to run Qwen 3.5 9B faster — or step up to bigger models? Find your Mac →This is a community run: 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 | community167 tok/s |
| Provenance | community run · bohemiansilicon.com |
| Quantization | 4-bit |
| Engine | MLX |
| Context | 512-token random prompt, 128 generated, empty context, mean of 2 |
| Figure dated | 2026-10-15 |
| Minimum RAM | 7 GB |
| Parameters | 9B |
| Chip bandwidth | 1228 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 (7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| community167 tok/s | 4-bit | MLX | 256 GB | 512-token random prompt, 128 generated, empty context, mean of 2 | bohemiansilicon.com | Mac Studio, mlx-lm 0.32 on macOS 27.0.1, mlx-community 4-bit MLX conversion. Published by Bohemian Silicon, which rents out this Mac. |
Ollama — install it (brew install ollama or the app from ollama.com), then pull the model by its tag, checked on ollama.com on 2026-10-24:
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 167 tok/s figure above came from MLX at 4-bit; 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.
Alibaba's 9B model, ~82 tok/s on M5 Max. Apache 2.0 license, LLMCheck capability 18/50.
Apache 2.0 licence · 9B · 262K context · LLMCheck capability 18/50 · see its leaderboard rank →
Qwen 3.5 9B needs about 7 GB of unified memory. These current Apple Silicon Macs have the headroom to run it comfortably:
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See how Qwen 3.5 9B stacks up against other models on your specific Mac hardware.
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