M1 Max 32GB vs M1 Max 64GB for local LLMs
2 reports on the M1 Max 32GB and 44 on the M1 Max 64GB
Which is faster for local LLMs?
On Qwen3.8 27B at 4-bit, the M1 Max 32GB has 15.8 generation tokens/s (one run); prompt processing 81.8 tokens/s (one run); the M1 Max 64GB has 16.9 generation tokens/s (one run). Those are community reports whose engines and settings differ, so the gap is a rough sign, not a controlled measure of the two cards. Memory bandwidth, which caps how fast a card can write, is about the same on both (410 GB/s on the M1 Max 32GB, 410 on the M1 Max 64GB).
- Memory
- 32GB unified
- Memory bandwidth
- 410 GB/s
- FP16 compute
- 10.4 TFLOPS
- Reports
- 2
- Memory
- 64GB unified
- Memory bandwidth
- 410 GB/s
- FP16 compute
- 10.4 TFLOPS
- Reports
- 44
Measured on both
Generation and prompt processing speeds from plain runs (one device, one request, no speculative decoding, the whole model in the device's memory) of the same model size at the same bit class. Each side shows the engines and reported context behind its median. Context can mean a configured window or prompt depth, so these are community comparisons with differing settings. How to read these
| Model | M1 Max 32GB | M1 Max 64GB |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27B4-bit | 15.8one runPP 81.8 (one run)MLXcontext not stated | 16.9one runLM Studio64K context |
Estimated by the calculator
The quant the calculator recommends for each card and its estimated speed at a 32,768-token context with 32 GB of system RAM, from memory bandwidth and the model's shape. Where a model was also measured above, the measurement wins.
| Model | M1 Max 32GB | M1 Max 64GB |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27B | 20.1 t/sQ4_K_S | 10.0 t/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3.8 125B · 6B active | doesn't fit at these settings | 45.7 t/sQ2_K |
| Qwen3.6 35B · 3B active | 73.2 t/sQ3_K_M | 31.6 t/sQ8_0 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B · 13B active | doesn't fit at these settings | doesn't fit at these settings |
| Qwen3.6 27B | 20.1 t/sQ4_K_S | 10.0 t/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 26B · 4B active | 44.3 t/sQ4_K_M | 27.1 t/sQ8_0 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 552B · 16B active | doesn't fit at these settings | doesn't fit at these settings |
Change the context, RAM or model in the calculator: M1 Max 32GB · M1 Max 64GB
Every report on each card, with its source: M1 Max 32GB · M1 Max 64GB