Can the Mac 24 GB run Ideogram 4?
Not at full quality. The 16-bit and 8-bit files are too big for the Mac 24 GB; the largest that fits is Q5_1 (7.3 GB).
Take Q5_1 (7.3 GB (×2, both loaded)). In use it comes to about 17.0 GB, with 2.6 GB left over on 19.6 GB. Quality: close; small differences in fine detail.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | ideogram4-transformer-q5_1.gguf main model Q5_1 · molbal/ideogram-4-gguf | models/unet | 7.3 GB | Download → |
| Model | ideogram4-unconditional_transformer-q5_1.gguf unconditional model, loaded together with the main one Q5_1 · molbal/ideogram-4-gguf | models/unet | 7.3 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | qwen3vl_8b_fp8_scaled.safetensors Qwen3-VL 8B FP8 · Comfy-Org/Ideogram-4 | models/text_encoders | 10.6 GB | Download → |
| VAE | flux2-vae.safetensors FLUX.2 VAE · Comfy-Org/Ideogram-4 | models/vae | 0.3 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 25.6 GB | |||
On a Mac, FP8 text encoders do not load, so a 16-bit one is listed. Sizes from Hugging Face, 2026-10-01.
Shared memory: about 31.6 GB of your 24 GB. On this machine the model, the text encoder, the VAE and the operating system all use the same memory. That is about 7.6 GB more than there is. It still runs: while the model works, the system compresses or swaps the idle text encoder, so loading and changing the prompt get slower. A smaller file or text encoder avoids that. calculated
02Every Ideogram 4 file on 19.6 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q8_0 GGUF · molbal | 10.1 GB ×2 | 22.6 GB | 3.0 GB too big | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_1 ← GGUF · molbal | 7.3 GB ×2 | 17.0 GB | fits · 2.6 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_1 GGUF · molbal | 6.2 GB ×2 | 14.7 GB | fits · 4.9 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
“Needed” adds 1.5 GB of working memory for Ideogram 4 and a 0.8 GB reserve. Sizes 2026-10-01. Needs two transformer files loaded together (main + unconditional). GGUF files need the molbal fork of ComfyUI-GGUF. No 16-bit weights were released. FP8 and INT8 files are left out on a Mac: Apple GPUs cannot compute FP8, so ComfyUI either fails to load them or converts them back to 16-bit, which saves no memory. Use a 16-bit or GGUF file.
03Measured and reported results
Nobody has sent measured numbers for this pair yet. If you run Ideogram 4 on a Mac 24 GB, send your time per image and peak VRAM and it will appear here, credited.
04With more VRAM
With 24 GB you could run Ideogram 4 at 8-bit or better (Q8_0, 10.1 GB) with no offloading: for example on the RTX 4090 24 GB, RTX 3090 24 GB, RX 7900 XTX 24 GB.
05About the Mac 24 GB
A Mac with 24 GB shares that memory between the CPU and the GPU. On current macOS the GPU may use about 19.6 GB of it by default (older macOS versions: about 17.2 GB); that is the figure used here. ComfyUI can go past it, but macOS then starts compressing and swapping memory and everything slows down. ComfyUI runs on Apple GPUs through PyTorch's MPS backend. 16-bit and GGUF files work; FP8 and INT8 files do not save memory on a Mac, so they are skipped. Speed is the catch: even the fastest Macs are several times slower per image than a desktop RTX card. Chips sold with 24 GB: M2, M3, M4, M4 Pro, M5, M5 Pro, M6 (memory bandwidth 100–307 GB/s - the higher, the faster). Everything about Macs and local AI →
24 GB unified · ~19.6 GB for the GPU · 100–307 GB/s · Apple Silicon. Everything that runs on it →
06Questions
How much VRAM does Ideogram 4 need?
Around 14.7 GB with the smallest file (Q4_1) and 20.9 GB with an 8-bit file (FP8).
Which Ideogram 4 file should I download for the Mac 24 GB?
Q5_1 (7.3 GB) from molbal/ideogram-4-gguf. Load it with Unet Loader (GGUF) from the ComfyUI-GGUF node pack.
FP8 or Q8_0 for Ideogram 4 on the Mac 24 GB?
Q8_0 (10.1 GB). The Mac 24 GB has no FP8 maths, so FP8 (9.3 GB) only saves memory and is a step further from the original.
How much do I need to download for Ideogram 4 on the Mac 24 GB?
25.6 GB: ideogram4-transformer-q5_1.gguf, ideogram4-unconditional_transformer-q5_1.gguf, qwen3vl_8b_fp8_scaled.safetensors, flux2-vae.safetensors.