Can the Mac 48 GB run MiniMax H3 (33B)?
Not at full quality. The 16-bit and 8-bit files are too big for the Mac 48 GB; the largest that fits is Q6_K (28.2 GB).
Q6_K (28.2 GB) needs about 34.0 GB in use, so 6.2 GB of the 40.2 GB stays free: room for a larger image, a LoRA or a ControlNet. Quality: very close to the original. For better quality, Q8_0 (36.0 GB) also runs, with about 1.6 GB spilling into system RAM - a little slower, still practical.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | MiniMax-H3-FL2VA-Q6_K.gguf Q6_K · Abiray/MiniMax-H3-GGUF | models/unet | 28.2 GB | Download → |
| Text encoder | qwen3vl_32b_minimax_h3_bf16.safetensors Qwen3-VL 32B BF16 · Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | models/text_encoders | 51.5 GB | Download → |
| VAE | minimax_h3_video_vae_fp16.safetensors MiniMax H3 video VAE FP16 · Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | models/vae | 5.2 GB | Download → |
| Also needed | minimax_h3_audio_vae_fp32.safetensors MiniMax H3 audio VAE FP32 · Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | models/vae | 0.6 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 85.5 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 91.5 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 is about 43.5 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 MiniMax H3 file on 40.2 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit SAFETENSORS · Comfy-Org | 66.3 GB | 72.1 GB | 31.9 GB too big | the original weights | Hugging Face → |
| Q8_0 GGUF · Abiray | 36.0 GB | 41.8 GB | spills 1.6 GB | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q6_K ← GGUF · Abiray | 28.2 GB | 34.0 GB | fits · 6.2 GB spare | very close to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_K_M GGUF · Abiray | 23.9 GB | 29.7 GB | fits · 10.5 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_K_M GGUF · Abiray | 19.9 GB | 25.7 GB | fits · 14.5 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
| Q3_K_M GGUF · Abiray | 15.6 GB | 21.4 GB | fits · 18.8 GB spare | noticeable loss of detail | Hugging Face → |
“Needed” adds 5 GB of working memory for MiniMax H3 and a 0.8 GB reserve. Sizes 2026-10-01. 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 MiniMax H3 on a Mac 48 GB, send your time per image and peak VRAM and it will appear here, credited.
04With more VRAM
With 48 GB you could run MiniMax H3 at 8-bit or better (Q8_0, 36.0 GB) with no offloading.
05About the Mac 48 GB
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 →
48 GB unified · ~40.2 GB for the GPU · 273–614 GB/s · Apple Silicon. Everything that runs on it →
06Questions
How much VRAM does MiniMax H3 need?
Around 21.4 GB with the smallest file (Q3_K_M) and 39.8 GB with an 8-bit file (INT8). The full 16-bit file needs about 72.1 GB.
Which MiniMax H3 file should I download for the Mac 48 GB?
Q6_K (28.2 GB) from Abiray/MiniMax-H3-GGUF. Load it with Unet Loader (GGUF) from the ComfyUI-GGUF node pack.
How much do I need to download for MiniMax H3 on the Mac 48 GB?
85.5 GB: MiniMax-H3-FL2VA-Q6_K.gguf, qwen3vl_32b_minimax_h3_bf16.safetensors, minimax_h3_video_vae_fp16.safetensors, minimax_h3_audio_vae_fp32.safetensors.