Run SmolLM3 3B on M5 Max

Yes — SmolLM3 3B (3B) runs at 168 tok/s on M5 Max with 64 GB RAM using Q4_K_M quantization via MLX. First token latency is 0.1s. A capable open-source LLM with 3B parameters.

Speed

168

tok/s

First Token

0.1

seconds

RAM Needed

GB minimum

Engine

MLX

recommended

Benchmark Details

LLMCheck measured SmolLM3 3B on M5 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	168 tok/s
Time to first token	0.1s
Quantization	Q4_K_M
Minimum RAM	64 GB
Recommended engine	MLX
Parameters	3B
Benchmark date	2026-05

Q4_K_M 3B MLX M5 Max

Setup Guide: Run SmolLM3 3B on M5 Max

The recommended engine for SmolLM3 3B on M5 Max is MLX. Install with pip and pull the model:

pip install mlx-lm

mlx_lm.generate --model mlx-community/smollm3-3b-q4_k_m --prompt "Hello!"

Alternatively, you can use Ollama for a simpler setup:

ollama run smollm3-3b

Performance on Other Apple Silicon Chips

Chip	Speed	First Token	Min RAM	Engine
M4 Pro	115 tok/s	0.2s	24 GB	Ollama
M3	92 tok/s	0.3s	16 GB	Ollama
M2	78 tok/s	0.4s	8 GB	Ollama
M1	65 tok/s	0.5s	8 GB	Ollama

System Requirements

To run SmolLM3 3B on M5 Max you need:

• Mac with M5 Max chip (or newer)
• 64 GB unified memory minimum
• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• ~54-64 GB free disk space for the model file
• MLX installed (see our Ollama install guide)

Compare More Models

See how SmolLM3 3B stacks up against other models on your specific Mac hardware.

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