Tev1-4B-experimental-mlx-16bit
16-bit MLX conversion of togethercomputer/Tev1-4B-experimental optimized for Apple Silicon native GPU inference.
Converted by: SirSahOl
Source Model: togethercomputer/Tev1-4B-experimental
Framework: MLX by Apple
Quantization: 16-bit (Average 16.00 (unquantized bfloat16) bits per weight)
Format: safetensors
License: unknown
Model Details
- Architecture: Qwen3_5ForConditionalGeneration
- Parameters: 4B
- Context Length: 32,768 tokens
- Format: MLX (Apple Silicon native GPU format)
- Quantization: 16-bit (Average 16.00 (unquantized bfloat16) bits per weight)
- Active VRAM Footprint: ~9.3 GB (Minimum recommended: 16 GB Unified Memory)
Quick Start
Installation
pip install mlx-lm
Usage
CLI
# Chat interactively
mlx_lm.chat --model SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit
# Generate text
mlx_lm.generate --model SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit --prompt "Write a short poem about artificial intelligence."
Python API (with Chat Template)
from mlx_lm import load, generate
model, tokenizer = load("SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit")
messages = [
{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum superposition in simple terms."}
]
prompt = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
messages, tokenize=False, add_generation_prompt=True
)
response = generate(model, tokenizer, prompt=prompt, verbose=True)
print(response)
Performance Benchmarks
Measured Benchmarks (Apple M1)
| Metric | 4-bit | 8-bit |
|---|---|---|
| Tokens/sec | 20.76 | 11.89 |
| TTFT | 48.17 ms | 84.12 ms |
| Peak Memory | 1908.2 MB | 89.4 MB |
Benchmarked on Apple M1 with 8GB unified memory. Average over 5 runs with 256 max tokens.
Multi-Quantization Comparison
Evaluate your hardware budget and choose the optimal precision:
| Variant | Disk Size | VRAM Footprint | Target Apple Silicon Hardware | Key Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-bit MLX | ~2.6 GB | ~2.6 GB | M1 / M2 / M3 / M4 (8GB+) | Maximum generation speed and lowest RAM overhead. |
| 8-bit MLX | ~4.7 GB | ~4.7 GB | M1 / M2 / M3 / M4 Pro/Max (16GB+) | Balanced accuracy and generation speed; near-lossless reasoning. |
| 16-bit MLX (This Repository) | ~8.8 GB | ~8.8 GB | M2 / M3 / M4 Max/Ultra (32GB+) | Full unquantized precision; reference evaluation quality. |
Who Should Use This?
| Your Hardware | Recommended Quantization |
|---|---|
| M1/M2/M3/M4 (8GB – 16GB) | 4-bit — Best balance of speed, low memory, and multitasking capability |
| M1/M2/M3/M4 Pro/Max (18GB – 36GB) | 8-bit — Higher quality reasoning with comfortable memory headroom |
| M1/M2/M3/M4 Max/Ultra (36GB – 192GB) | 16-bit — Unquantized full precision, zero quality degradation |
General guidance:
- Use 4-bit if you want to run this model alongside IDEs, browsers, and background development tools.
- Use 8-bit if you have 16GB+ unified memory and require superior reasoning and code accuracy.
- Use 16-bit for research, benchmarking, evaluation, or high-end workstation deployments.
Other Quantization Variants
| Variant | Link |
|---|---|
| 4-bit | SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-4bit |
| 8-bit | SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-8bit |
| 16-bit | SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit |
LM Studio & Local Inference Setup Guide
To prevent runaway loops and ensure correct conversational turn-taking, configure custom stop tokens in your local inference runtime:
<|im_start|><|im_end|><|endoftext|>
Prompt Template Formatting
- System Prefix:
<|im_start|>system\n - System Suffix:
<|im_end|>\n - User Prefix:
<|im_start|>user\n - Assistant Suffix:
<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\n
Ollama Quickstart
FROM SirSahOl/Tev1-4B-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit
PARAMETER stop "<|im_start|>"
PARAMETER stop "<|im_end|>"
PARAMETER stop "<|endoftext|>"
PARAMETER temperature 0.7
ollama create tev1-4b-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit -f Modelfile
ollama run tev1-4b-experimental-chat-mlx-16bit
Conversion Details
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Source Model | togethercomputer/Tev1-4B-experimental |
| Quantization | 16-bit |
| mlx-lm Version | 0.31.3 |
| Conversion Time | 88.3s |
| Output Size | 7.9 GB |
| Date | 2026-10-01T07:02:48.813777+00:00 |
Reproduction
To reproduce this conversion:
pip install mlx-lm==0.31.3
python3 -m mlx_lm.convert --hf-path togethercomputer/Tev1-4B-experimental --mlx-path output/Tev1-4B-experimental-mlx-16bit
Limitations & Known Issues
- 4-bit group-wise quantization introduces minor precision loss compared to unquantized weights; for deep mathematical derivations or precision-critical reasoning, test the 8-bit or 16-bit variants.
- High context sequences (>32K tokens) require sufficient unified memory headroom; ensure unified memory is not overcommitted.
- This is a weight-only MLX conversion designed specifically for Apple Silicon GPUs (M1/M2/M3/M4 series).
License
This model conversion inherits the license of the source model: unknown.
See the original model card for full license details.
Changelog
| Version | Date | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| v1.0 | 2026-10-01 | Initial conversion |
Converted with MLX Foundry — a professional pipeline for converting models to Apple MLX format.