Question 1

Can Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB can run Qwen3.5 9B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 84.5 tok/s.

Question 2

How much VRAM does Qwen3.5 9B need?

Accepted Answer

Qwen3.5 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 21.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

Question 3

What is the best quantization for Qwen3.5 9B?

Accepted Answer

The recommended quantization for Qwen3.5 9B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Agentic Coding	C	Runs well	84.5 tok/s	3332 ms	126K
Chat	C	Runs well	94.7 tok/s	1115 ms	35K
Coding	C	Runs well	84.5 tok/s	2291 ms	67K
RAG	C	Runs well	84.5 tok/s	4165 ms	126K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	84.5 tok/s	2707 ms	67K

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	D30
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	D30
NVFP4	4

Can Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Memory breakdown