readygpu

Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

For running models locally, priced in Germany. At 32k context the first runs 75 models fully in memory, the second 54.

In short

The Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB has more memory for models: 128 GB against 24 GB. At 32k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB runs 75 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 54; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB holds DeepSeek V4 Flash. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is about 1.8× as fast as the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB (estimated, median across models). In Germany the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB costs 9.000 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 3.915 € at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 5.085 € cheaper.

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

Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB

9.000 €

eBay

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

3.915 €

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac Studio M4 Max 128GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
ChipApple M4 Max (40-core GPU)–
Memory bus512-bit384-bit
Memory bandwidth546 GB/s1,008 GB/s
FP16 compute16.16 TFLOPS165 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalCUDA
Unified memory128 GB–
GPU can use by default96 GB–
GPU can use, tuned120 GB–
Operating systemmacos–
ProcessorM4 Max 16-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 M4 Max 128GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
DeepSeek V4 Flash22tok/sUD-Q2_K_XLwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next7tok/sUD-Q3_K_XLwon't run
MiniMax M2.718tok/sUD-Q2_K_XLwon't run
Qwen 3.8 27B11tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ5_K_M
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B24tok/sQ6_Koffload
Qwen 3.6 27B12tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ5_K_M
gpt-oss 120B49tok/sMXFP4won't run
Qwen3 Coder Next43tok/sQ8_0offload
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B22tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
Gemma 4 31B10tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ4_K_M
Mistral Small 4 119B32tok/sUD-Q6_Koffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B56tok/sQ8_0145tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen 3.5 27B12tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ5_K_M
Gemma 4 26B-A4B42tok/sQ8_084tok/sUD-Q6_K
GLM 4.5 Air13tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B56tok/sQ8_0146tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B53tok/sQ8_0offload
GLM 4.7 Flash30tok/sQ8_070tok/sQ5_K_M
Devstral Small 2 24B12tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B60tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL153tok/sMXFP4
gpt-oss 20B66tok/sMXFP4116tok/sMXFP4
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B61tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B33tok/sQ8_074tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3 32B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 12B26tok/sQ8_046tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B33tok/sQ8_059tok/sQ8_0
Mistral Small 3.2 24B12tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
Gemma 3 27B11tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Llama 3.3 70B4tok/sQ8_0won't run
Ministral 3 14B18tok/sQ8_032tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14B17tok/sQ8_030tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B26tok/sQ8_046tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B26tok/sQ8_046tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B16tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B63tok/sQ8_0112tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B26tok/sQ8_046tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B24tok/sQ8_043tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B39tok/sQ8_068tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B80tok/sQ8_0140tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B33tok/sQ6_K57tok/sQ6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B380tok/sQ8_0669tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B288tok/sQ8_0507tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B191tok/sQ5_K_M337tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B125tok/sQ8_0221tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B87tok/sQ8_0153tok/sQ8_0
Spark X2.5 4B82tok/smlx-4bit145tok/smlx-4bit
LFM2.5 2.6B73tok/sQ8_0128tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B73tok/sQ8_0128tok/sQ8_0
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking67tok/sQ8_0118tok/sQ8_0
FrogNano 4B 260962tok/sQ8_0109tok/sQ8_0
granite vision 4.1 4b56tok/sQ8_099tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b54tok/sQ8_095tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B Thinking 250652tok/sQ8_091tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B50tok/smlx-8bit88tok/smlx-8bit
LFM2.5 24B A2B44tok/sQ8_084tok/sQ6_K
GLM 4 9B 041437tok/smlx-5bit65tok/smlx-5bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B36tok/sQ8_063tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.6V Flash31tok/sQ8_055tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B28tok/sQ8_049tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking27tok/smlx-8bit48tok/smlx-8bit
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 251226tok/sQ8_046tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B16tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATED16tok/smlx-4bit27tok/smlx-4bit
GLM 4.5V15tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
GLM 4.6V14tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
Devstral Small 250712tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
Magistral Small 250612tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
Magistral Small 250712tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
Magistral Small 250912tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ5_K_M
granite 4.2 30b9tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B4tok/sQ8_0won't run
Kimi Dev 72B4tok/sQ8_0won't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 25124tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128B4tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon'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
GLM 4.5won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6won'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 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

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
Choose the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB to run bigger models. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
At 32k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB runs 75 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 54; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB holds DeepSeek V4 Flash.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is about 1.8× as fast as the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
In Germany the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB costs 9.000 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 3.915 € at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 5.085 € cheaper.

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