Mac mini M4 32GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
For running models locally, priced in the US. 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 4080 Super 16; only the Mac mini M4 32GB holds Qwen 3.8 27B. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super is about 5.9× as fast as the Mac mini M4 32GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the Mac mini M4 32GB costs $1,420 at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super $1,199 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super is $221 cheaper.
Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.
Specifications
| Spec | Mac mini M4 32GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 (10-core GPU) | – |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 736 GB/s |
| FP16 compute | 3.76 TFLOPS | 104 TFLOPS |
| Software | Metal | CUDA |
| Unified memory | 32 GB | – |
| GPU can use by default | 21.3 GB | – |
| GPU can use, tuned | 24 GB | – |
| Operating system | macos | – |
| Processor | M4 10-core | – |
| Storage | 512 GB | – |
| GPU | – | GeForce RTX 4080 Super |
| Memory | – | 16 GB GDDR6X |
| Board power | – | 320 W |
| PCIe generation | – | Gen 4 |
| PCIe lanes | – | x16 |
What each runs
Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.
| Model | Mac mini M4 32GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.8 27B | 4tok/sUD-Q5_K_M | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 27B | 4tok/sQ5_K_M | offload |
| Gemma 4 31B | 4tok/sQ4_K_M | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 27B | 4tok/sQ5_K_M | offload |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | 13tok/sUD-Q5_K_M | offload |
| GLM 4.7 Flash | 12tok/sQ5_K_M | offload |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | 4tok/sQ6_K | 29tok/sQ4_K_M |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | 18tok/sQ4_K_M | offload |
| gpt-oss 20B | 18tok/sMXFP4 | 104tok/sMXFP4 |
| Qwen3 32B | 4tok/sQ4_K_M | offload |
| Gemma 4 12B | 6tok/sQ8_0 | 35tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 9B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 46tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 3 27B | 4tok/sQ5_K_M | offload |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | 4tok/sQ6_K | 29tok/sQ4_K_M |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B | 4tok/sQ4_K_M | offload |
| Ministral 3 14B | 5tok/sQ8_0 | 29tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 14B | 5tok/sQ8_0 | 34tok/sQ6_K |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 46tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 46tok/sQ8_0 |
| Phi-4 14B | 5tok/sQ8_0 | 33tok/sQ6_K |
| Qwen 3.5 4B | 16tok/sQ8_0 | 95tok/sQ8_0 |
| Ministral 3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 45tok/sQ8_0 |
| Granite 4.2 8B | 7tok/sQ8_0 | 43tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 9tok/sQ8_0 | 54tok/sQ8_0 |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 32tok/sQ8_0 | 187tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.1 8B | 10tok/sQ6_K | 60tok/sQ6_K |
| Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B | won't run | offload |
| Mistral Small 4 119B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| Kimi Linear 48B-A3B | won't run | offload |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 5.3 Flash | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen 3.8 Flash Next | won't run | won't run |
| MiniMax M2.7 | won't run | won't run |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen3 Coder Next | won't run | won't run |
| gpt-oss 120B | won't run | won't run |
| GLM 4.5 Air | won't run | won't run |
| Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B | won't run | won't run |
| Llama 3.3 70B | won't run | won't run |
Questions
- Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 32GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super?
- Choose the Mac mini M4 32GB to run bigger models. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super to spend less.
- Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 32GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super?
- At 8k context the Mac mini M4 32GB runs 26 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super 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 4080 Super?
- On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super is about 5.9× 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 4080 Super?
- In the US the Mac mini M4 32GB costs $1,420 at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super $1,199 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super is $221 cheaper.
More comparisons
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- Mac mini M4 32GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
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- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
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