Can the Mac 48 GB run Ideogram 4?
Download Q8_0 (10.1 GB (×2, both loaded)). With the model's working memory it needs about 22.6 GB, leaving 17.6 GB spare on 40.2 GB. Quality: practically identical to the original.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | ideogram4-transformer-q8_0.gguf main model Q8_0 · molbal/ideogram-4-gguf | models/unet | 10.1 GB | Download → |
| Model | ideogram4-unconditional_transformer-q8_0.gguf unconditional model, loaded together with the main one Q8_0 · molbal/ideogram-4-gguf | models/unet | 10.1 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 | 31.2 GB | |||
On a Mac, FP8 text encoders do not load, so a 16-bit one is listed. Sizes read from Hugging Face (2026-09-25). “Download” links start the file directly; the file name links are the same files the official ComfyUI workflows use.
Shared memory: about 37.2 GB of your 48 GB. On this machine the model, the text encoder, the VAE and the operating system all use the same memory. That leaves room, so nothing has to be swapped to disk. calculated
02Every Ideogram 4 file on 40.2 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q8_0 ← GGUF · molbal | 10.1 GB ×2 | 22.6 GB | fits · 17.6 GB spare | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_1 GGUF · molbal | 7.3 GB ×2 | 17.0 GB | fits · 23.2 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_1 GGUF · molbal | 6.2 GB ×2 | 14.7 GB | fits · 25.5 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
Sizes from the Hugging Face file listing, read 2026-09-25. “Needed” = file ×2 + 1.5 GB working memory for this model + 0.8 GB kept free for the system. 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.
03The text encoder
Qwen3-VL 8B: 10.6 GB as FP8, 6.3 GB as NVFP4. ComfyUI encodes the prompt first and can push the encoder out of VRAM before sampling, so it does not have to fit together with the model. On 40.2 GB the FP8 encoder fits on its own, so prompt encoding stays fast.
04About this GPU
A Mac with 48 GB shares that memory between the CPU and the GPU. On current macOS the GPU may use about 40.2 GB of it by default (older macOS versions: about 38.7 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 48 GB: M3 Max, M4 Pro, M4 Max, M5 Pro, M5 Max (memory bandwidth 273–614 GB/s — the higher, the faster). Everything about Macs and local AI →
Mac 48 GB: 48 GB unified · ~40.2 GB for the GPU · 273–614 GB/s · Apple Silicon. Everything that runs on the Mac 48 GB →
05What more VRAM would change
Nothing to gain for this model: the Mac 48 GB already runs a top-quality file entirely in VRAM. More memory would only help with bigger images, longer clips or several models at once.
06Measured and reported results
Nobody has sent measured numbers for this pair yet. If you run Ideogram 4 on a Mac 48 GB, send your time per image and peak VRAM and it will appear here, credited.
07Questions
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), counting working memory and a small system reserve.
Which Ideogram 4 file should I download for the Mac 48 GB?
Q8_0 (10.1 GB) from molbal/ideogram-4-gguf. Load it with Unet Loader (GGUF) from the ComfyUI-GGUF node pack.
Is FP8 faster than GGUF on the Mac 48 GB?
No. This GPU has no FP8 compute, so ComfyUI converts FP8 weights back before the maths. FP8 only saves memory here; Q8_0 GGUF is the closer-to-original 8-bit pick.
How much do I need to download for Ideogram 4 on the Mac 48 GB?
About 31.2 GB for the model file, text encoder and VAE listed on this page, and the same again free on disk. With a 40.2 GB card, 48 GB of system RAM or more is recommended.