Question 1

Can Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB can run Qwen3.5 9B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 97.0 tok/s.

Question 2

How much VRAM does Qwen3.5 9B need?

Accepted Answer

Qwen3.5 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 35.7 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	97.0 tok/s	2904 ms	159K
Chat	C	Runs well	97.0 tok/s	1089 ms	42K
Coding	C	Runs well	97.0 tok/s	1997 ms	83K
RAG	C	Runs well	97.0 tok/s	3630 ms	159K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	97.0 tok/s	2360 ms	83K

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 M3 Ultra 256GB run Qwen3.5 9B?

Memory breakdown