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Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

For running models locally, priced in Germany. At 64k context the first runs 72 models fully in memory, the second 49.

In short

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB has more memory for models: 96 GB against 24 GB. At 64k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB runs 72 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 49; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB holds Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is about 1.2× as fast as the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB (estimated, median across models). In Germany the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB costs 5.999 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 6.069 € at Amazon: the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB is 70 € cheaper.

Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB

5.999 €

eBay

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

6.069 €

Amazon

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac Studio M3 Ultra 96GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
ChipApple M3 Ultra (80-core GPU)–
Memory bus1024-bit384-bit
Memory bandwidth819 GB/s1,008 GB/s
FP16 compute28 TFLOPS165 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalCUDA
Unified memory96 GB–
GPU can use by default72 GB–
GPU can use, tuned88 GB–
Operating systemmacos–
ProcessorM3 Ultra 32-core–
Storage1000 GB–
GPU–GeForce RTX 4090
Memory–24 GB GDDR6X
Board power–450 W
PCIe generation–Gen 4
PCIe lanes–x16

What each runs

Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.

ModelMac Studio M3 Ultra 96GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Qwen 3.8 27B16tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B51tok/sQ3_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.6 27B16tok/sQ8_026tok/sQ5_K_M
Qwen3 Coder Next66tok/sQ6_Koffload
gpt-oss 120B58tok/sMXFP4won't run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B48tok/sUD-Q3_K_Mwon't run
Gemma 4 31B14tok/sQ8_0offload
Mistral Small 4 119B54tok/sUD-Q4_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B71tok/sQ8_0115tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen 3.5 27B16tok/sQ8_030tok/sQ4_K_M
Gemma 4 26B-A4B56tok/sQ8_078tok/sUD-Q5_K_M
GLM 4.5 Air16tok/sQ3_K_Mwon't run
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B78tok/sQ6_Koffload
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B71tok/sQ8_0116tok/sQ4_K_M
GLM 4.7 Flash36tok/sQ8_057tok/sQ4_K_M
Devstral Small 2 24B15tok/sQ8_0offload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B85tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL141tok/sMXFP4
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B85tok/sQ8_0offload
gpt-oss 20B79tok/sMXFP493tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B33tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 32B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 12B38tok/sQ8_044tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B45tok/sQ8_053tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B15tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ4_K_M
Mistral Small 3.2 24B15tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Llama 3.3 70B8tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
Ministral 3 14B21tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ6_K
Qwen3 14B20tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ6_K
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B29tok/sQ8_034tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B29tok/sQ8_034tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B18tok/sQ8_026tok/sQ5_K_M
Qwen 3.5 4B80tok/sQ8_094tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B29tok/sQ8_034tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B27tok/sQ8_031tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B53tok/sQ8_062tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B75tok/sQ8_088tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B35tok/sQ6_K41tok/sQ6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B398tok/sQ8_0468tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B325tok/sQ8_0382tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B236tok/sQ5_K_M277tok/sQ5_K_M
LFM3 1.7B200tok/sQ8_0235tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B141tok/sQ8_0166tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B97tok/sQ8_0114tok/sQ8_0
Spark X2.5 4B97tok/smlx-4bit113tok/smlx-4bit
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking88tok/sQ8_0103tok/sQ8_0
FrogNano 4B 260978tok/sQ8_092tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B77tok/sQ8_091tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B77tok/sQ8_091tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B Thinking 250662tok/sQ8_073tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B60tok/smlx-8bit71tok/smlx-8bit
granite vision 4.1 4b59tok/sQ8_070tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b58tok/sQ8_068tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 3B Instruct 251250tok/sQ8_059tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4 9B 041449tok/smlx-5bit57tok/smlx-5bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B45tok/sQ8_053tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 24B A2B43tok/sQ8_054tok/sQ5_K_M
GLM 4.6V Flash42tok/sQ8_049tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking37tok/smlx-8bit43tok/smlx-8bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B31tok/sQ8_037tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 251229tok/sQ8_034tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 14B Reasoning 251221tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ6_K
Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATED21tok/smlx-4bitoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B19tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ5_K_M
Muse Glimmer 30B16tok/sQ8_030tok/sQ5_K_M
GLM 4.5V15tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
Devstral Small 250715tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250615tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250715tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250915tok/sQ8_0offload
granite 4.2 30b11tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B8tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flashwon't runwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon't runwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Nextwon't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.7won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 0528won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Zerowon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1 Terminuswon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.2won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Expwon't runwon't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 2512won't runwon't run
GLM 4.5won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won't runwon't run
GLM 5won't runwon't run
GLM 5.1won't runwon't run
GLM 5.2won't runwon't run
GLM 5.3won't runwon't run
Kimi Dev 72Bwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Thinkingwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.1won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M3won't runwon't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB to run bigger models. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 for speed. Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
At 64k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB runs 72 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 49; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB holds Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is about 1.2× as fast as the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
In Germany the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB costs 5.999 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 6.069 € at Amazon: the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB is 70 € cheaper.

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