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Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

For running models locally, priced in Germany. At 128k context the first runs 30 models fully in memory, the second 9.

In short

The Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB has more memory for models: 64 GB against 24 GB. At 128k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB runs 30 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 9; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB holds Qwen 3.8 27B. 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 64GB (estimated, median across models). In Germany the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB costs 4.183 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 3.955 € at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 228 € cheaper.

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

Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB

4.183 €

eBay

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

3.955 €

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac Studio M4 Max 64GBNVIDIA 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 memory64 GB–
GPU can use by default48 GB–
GPU can use, tuned56 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 64GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Qwen 3.8 27B9tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B32tok/sUD-Q2_K_XLoffload
Qwen 3.6 27B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 31B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Mistral Small 4 119B40tok/sUD-Q2_K_XLoffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B37tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 27B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 26B-A4B30tok/sQ8_068tok/sUD-Q4_K_M
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B37tok/sQ8_0offload
GLM 4.7 Flash17tok/sQ8_0offload
Devstral Small 2 24B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B51tok/sUD-Q6_K_XLoffload
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B60tok/sQ6_Koffload
gpt-oss 20B38tok/sMXFP466tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 12B23tok/sQ8_041tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B26tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B9tok/sQ8_0offload
Mistral Small 3.2 24B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Ministral 3 14B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 14B10tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 8B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Phi-4 14B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 4B40tok/sQ8_071tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B13tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ4_K_M
Granite 4.2 8B12tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 E4B30tok/sQ8_052tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B28tok/sQ8_050tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B15tok/sQ6_K27tok/sQ5_K_M
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
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12Bwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Coder Nextwon't runwon't run
gpt-oss 120Bwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.5 Airwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3Bwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 32Bwon't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32Bwon't runwon't run
Llama 3.3 70Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
Choose the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB 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 64GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
At 128k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB runs 30 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 9; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB holds Qwen 3.8 27B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB 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 64GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
In Germany the Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB costs 4.183 € at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 3.955 € at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 228 € cheaper.

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