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ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB

For running models locally, priced in the US. At 32k context the first runs 42 models fully in memory, the second 42.

In short

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB has more memory for models: 256 GB against 128 GB. At 32k context both run the same 42 models we track fully in memory. On the models both run fully in memory, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB is about 3.1× as fast as the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB costs $6,100 at eBay and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB $8,499 at eBay: the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB is $2,399 cheaper.

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

ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB

$6,100

eBay

Add to build
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB

$8,499

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecASUS Ascent GX10 128GBMac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
ChipGB10 Grace BlackwellApple M3 Ultra (80-core GPU)
Memory bus256-bit1024-bit
Memory bandwidth273 GB/s819 GB/s
FP16 compute62 TFLOPS28 TFLOPS
SoftwareCUDAMetal
Unified memory128 GB256 GB
GPU can use by default119 GB192 GB
GPU can use, tuned122 GB248 GB
Operating systemdgx-osmacos
Processor20-core Arm (GB10)M3 Ultra 32-core
Storage1000 GB2000 GB

What each runs

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

ModelASUS Ascent GX10 128GBMac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
DeepSeek V4 Flash11tok/sUD-Q2_K_XL23tok/sUD-Q4_K_XL
GLM 5.3 Flash11tok/sUD-Q2_K_XL20tok/sUD-Q4_K_XL
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next3tok/sUD-Q4_K_XL5tok/sQ8_0
MiniMax M2.78tok/sUD-Q3_K_M18tok/sUD-Q6_K
Qwen 3.8 27B5tok/sQ8_017tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B11tok/sQ6_K28tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.6 27B6tok/sQ8_017tok/sQ8_0
gpt-oss 120B23tok/sMXFP474tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder Next20tok/sQ8_064tok/sQ8_0
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B9tok/sUD-Q6_K25tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 31B5tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Mistral Small 4 119B15tok/sUD-Q6_K39tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B27tok/sQ8_084tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 27B6tok/sQ8_017tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 26B-A4B20tok/sQ8_063tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.5 Air4tok/sQ8_013tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B27tok/sQ8_084tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B25tok/sQ8_080tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.7 Flash14tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ8_0
Devstral Small 2 24B6tok/sQ8_018tok/sQ8_0
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B28tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL89tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL
gpt-oss 20B31tok/sMXFP499tok/sMXFP4
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B29tok/sQ8_091tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B16tok/sQ8_050tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 32B4tok/sQ8_012tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 12B13tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B16tok/sQ8_050tok/sQ8_0
Mistral Small 3.2 24B6tok/sQ8_018tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B5tok/sQ8_017tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B4tok/sQ8_012tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.3 70B2tok/sQ8_06tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 14B9tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14B8tok/sQ8_025tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B13tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B13tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B8tok/sQ8_024tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B30tok/sQ8_095tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B13tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B12tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B19tok/sQ8_058tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B38tok/sQ8_0119tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B16tok/sQ6_K49tok/sQ6_K

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB?
Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB for speed. Choose the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB?
At 32k context both run the same 42 models we track fully in memory.
Which is faster for local AI, the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB?
On the models both run fully in memory, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB is about 3.1× as fast as the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB?
In the US the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB costs $6,100 at eBay and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB $8,499 at eBay: the ASUS Ascent GX10 128GB is $2,399 cheaper.

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