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Mac mini M4 32GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

For running models locally, priced in the UK. At 8k context the first runs 26 models fully in memory, the second 16.

In short

The Mac mini M4 32GB has more memory for models: 32 GB against 16 GB. At 8k context the Mac mini M4 32GB runs 26 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16; only the Mac mini M4 32GB holds Qwen 3.8 27B. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is about 7.6× as fast as the Mac mini M4 32GB (estimated, median across models). In the UK the Mac mini M4 32GB costs £1,200 at eBay (used) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 £1,199 at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is £1 cheaper.

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

Mac mini M4 32GB

£1,200

eBay, used (asking)

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

£1,199

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac mini M4 32GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
ChipApple M4 (10-core GPU)–
Memory bus128-bit256-bit
Memory bandwidth120 GB/s960 GB/s
FP16 compute3.76 TFLOPS113 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalCUDA
Unified memory32 GB–
GPU can use by default21.3 GB–
GPU can use, tuned24 GB–
Operating systemmacos–
ProcessorM4 10-core–
Storage512 GB–
GPU–GeForce RTX 5080
Memory–16 GB GDDR7
Board power–360 W
PCIe generation–Gen 5
PCIe lanes–x16

What each runs

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

ModelMac mini M4 32GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
Qwen 3.8 27B4tok/sUD-Q5_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.6 27B4tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Gemma 4 31B4tok/sQ4_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.5 27B4tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Gemma 4 26B-A4B13tok/sUD-Q5_K_Moffload
GLM 4.7 Flash12tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Devstral Small 2 24B4tok/sQ6_K38tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B18tok/sQ4_K_Moffload
gpt-oss 20B18tok/sMXFP4136tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 32B4tok/sQ4_K_Moffload
Gemma 4 12B6tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B8tok/sQ8_060tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B4tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Mistral Small 3.2 24B4tok/sQ6_K38tok/sQ4_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B4tok/sQ4_K_Moffload
Ministral 3 14B5tok/sQ8_038tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14B5tok/sQ8_044tok/sQ6_K
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B8tok/sQ8_060tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B8tok/sQ8_060tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B5tok/sQ8_043tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 4B16tok/sQ8_0124tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B8tok/sQ8_059tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B7tok/sQ8_056tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B9tok/sQ8_070tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B32tok/sQ8_0244tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B10tok/sQ6_K78tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10Bwon't runoffload
Mistral Small 4 119Bwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Kimi Linear 48B-A3Bwon't runoffload
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
Llama 3.3 70Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 32GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080?
Choose the Mac mini M4 32GB to run bigger models. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 32GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080?
At 8k context the Mac mini M4 32GB runs 26 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16; only the Mac mini M4 32GB holds Qwen 3.8 27B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 32GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080?
On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is about 7.6× as fast as the Mac mini M4 32GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac mini M4 32GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080?
In the UK the Mac mini M4 32GB costs £1,200 at eBay (used) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 £1,199 at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is £1 cheaper.

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