Best Local LLMs for 256GB RAM

Ranked open-weight models that run well on a 256GB machine — with estimated speed and the exact ollama command for each.

Try: RTX 4090, MacBook Pro M4, 16GB, iPhone 17 Pro

Best local models for ~256GB

12 picks

Estimates assume a representative Apple-Silicon machine with 256GB unified memory. Tok/s are ModelFit estimates, not measured benchmarks. Run the wizard for figures tuned to your exact chip.

01

Llama 4 Scout

Llama / 109B / Q4_K_M / ~67 GB

Best for: Long context, Quality, Multimodal·Perf: ~22.7 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.7s

Perfect fit

Best for long context, quality, multimodal. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run llama4:scout
02

Qwen3.5 122B-A10B Instruct

Qwen / 122B / Q4_K_M / ~72 GB

Best for: Frontier-level reasoning, Complex tasks·Perf: ~20.5 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.7s

Perfect fit

Best for frontier-level reasoning, complex tasks. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.5:122b-a10b
03

Qwen3 235B A22B

Qwen / 235B / Q4_K_M / ~130 GB

Best for: Quality, Reasoning·Perf: ~11.4 tok/s (est.) · first token ~2.1s

Runs well

Best for quality, reasoning. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3:235b-a22b-q4_K_M
04

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct

Llama / 70B / Q4_K_M / ~42 GB

Best for: Quality, Coding·Perf: ~33.9 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.5s

Perfect fit

Best for quality, coding. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run llama3.3:70b-instruct-q4_K_M
05

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct

Mistral / 46.7B / Q4_K_M / ~30 GB

Best for: Coding, Quality·Perf: ~48.8 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.5s

Perfect fit

Best for coding, quality. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run mixtral:8x7b
06

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

Qwen / 35B / Q4_K_M / ~22 GB

Best for: Reasoning, Coding, Agents·Perf: ~63.2 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.4s

Perfect fit

Best for reasoning, coding, agents. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.6:35b-a3b
07

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Instruct

Qwen / 35B / Q4_K_M / ~20 GB

Best for: Reasoning, Coding, Agent scenarios·Perf: ~63.2 tok/s (est.) · first token ~1.4s

Perfect fit

Best for reasoning, coding, agent scenarios. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.5:35b-a3b
08

Qwen3.5 4B Instruct

Qwen / 4B / Q4_K_M / ~3.5 GB

Best for: Coding, Agents, Multimodal·Perf: ~180 tok/s (est.) · first token ~0.5s

Perfect fit

Best for coding, agents, multimodal. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.5:4b
09

Qwen3.5 9B Instruct

Qwen / 9B / Q4_K_M / ~7 GB

Best for: Quality, Coding, Reasoning·Perf: ~180 tok/s (est.) · first token ~0.5s

Perfect fit

Best for quality, coding, reasoning. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.5:9b
10

Qwen3.5 27B Instruct

Qwen / 27B / Q4_K_M / ~16 GB

Best for: Chat, Coding, Complex reasoning·Perf: ~79.8 tok/s (est.) · first token ~0.6s

Perfect fit

Best for chat, coding, complex reasoning. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.5:27b
11

Qwen3.6 27B

Qwen / 27B / Q4_K_M / ~18 GB

Best for: Coding, Quality, Long context·Perf: ~79.8 tok/s (est.) · first token ~0.6s

Perfect fit

Best for coding, quality, long context. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run qwen3.6:27b
12

Gemma 4 26B-A4B

Gemma / 26B / Q4_K_M / ~16 GB

Best for: Chat, Coding, Multimodal·Perf: ~82.6 tok/s (est.) · first token ~0.6s

Perfect fit

Best for chat, coding, multimodal. Strong fit for 256 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.

ollama
$ollama run gemma4:26b

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