# Can I run Gemma 3 27B on a Mac mini 24GB? | What Can I Run?

> No. Gemma 3 27B needs about 20.1 GB at Q4_K_M, and Mac mini 24GB has 18.0 GB usable. What to run instead.

Source: https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/mac-mini-m6-24/

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**No.** Gemma 3 27B at Q4\_K\_M needs about 20.1 GB, and the Mac mini M6 24GB has 18.0 GB usable at a \~4k context.

# Can I run Gemma 3 27B on a Mac mini 24GB?

Gemma 3 27B at Q4\_K\_M needs about 20.1 GB, and the Mac mini M6 24GB has 18.0 GB usable. That figure is 24 GB of unified memory on the spec sheet, of which 18.0 GB is usable for weights and cache, at 170 GB/s memory bandwidth. Google’s larger Gemma 3 instruct model, in the same memory band as other mid-20B dense models. These are estimates from [our formula](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/), not measured benchmarks.

Quant that fits

None of Q4, Q8 or FP16 needs 20.1 GB

Memory needed

20.1 GB at Q4\_K\_M, \~4k context

Usable unified memory

18.0 GB of 24 GB unified memory

Est. tokens/sec

n/a does not fit

[gemma-3-27b-it](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/gemma-3-27b-it/) · [Mac mini M6 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/hardware/mac-mini-m6-24/) · [Everything this machine runs](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/what-can-i-run/mac-mini-m6-24/) · [Q4 vs Q8 vs FP16](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/quantization/)

## Memory at each quant

| Quant    | Need vs 18.0 GB | Verdict       |
| -------- | --------------- | ------------- |
| Q4\_K\_M | 20.1 GB         | Q4Won’t fit   |
| Q8\_0    | 34.5 GB         | Q8Won’t fit   |
| FP16     | 64.1 GB         | FP16Won’t fit |

## Estimated tokens per second

No speed estimate: Gemma 3 27B does not fit in the 18.0 GB this machine can use, so we do not publish a tokens/sec figure for CPU offload.

## Context headroom

We do not have a published KV config for this model, so the memory need is the \~4k-context estimate only. Use the [VRAM calculator](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/vram-calculator/) to explore longer chats.

## What to do instead

* Run [Mistral Small 24B](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct-2506/mac-mini-m6-24/) instead (17.7 GB at Q4). It is a different model, not a drop-in, but it does fit this machine.
* To hold Gemma 3 27B at Q4, you need about 20.1 GB. The [GeForce RTX 3090](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3090/) has 24.0 GB usable ($1499 list price).
* Our estimate is only 2.1 GB over this machine’s usable memory, so a tighter quant or a shorter context may work in practice. We still mark it as a no under [the published formula](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/).
* CPU offload can load the weights anyway, but it is slow. We do not publish an offload tokens/sec figure.
* See the [best GPU for this model family](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/best-gpu-for/gemma-3/) and the [gemma-3-27b-it model page](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/gemma-3-27b-it/).

## Other hardware for Gemma 3 27B

* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3060 12GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3060-12gb/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3080](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3080-10gb/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 3090](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-3090/)Fits
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 4060 Ti 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-4060-ti-16gb/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on an RTX 4070 Ti Super](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/rtx-4070-ti-super/)Won’t fit

## Other models on a Mac mini 24GB

* [Qwen3-32B on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-32b/mac-mini-m6-24/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3-30B-A3B on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-30b-a3b/mac-mini-m6-24/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3.8-27B on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3.8-27b/mac-mini-m6-24/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 4 31B on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-4-31b-it/mac-mini-m6-24/)Won’t fit
* [gpt-oss-20b on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gpt-oss-20b/mac-mini-m6-24/)Fits
* [Mistral Small 24B on a Mac mini 24GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct-2506/mac-mini-m6-24/)Tight

## Quick answers

Can I run Gemma 3 27B on a Mac mini 24GB?

No. Gemma 3 27B at Q4\_K\_M needs about 20.1 GB, and the Mac mini M6 24GB has 18.0 GB usable.

How much VRAM does Gemma 3 27B need?

About 20.1 GB at Q4\_K\_M, 34.5 GB at Q8\_0 and 64.1 GB at FP16, estimated for a \~4k context.

How fast is Gemma 3 27B on a Mac mini 24GB?

We do not estimate tokens/sec when the model does not fit. CPU offload is possible but slow.

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