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Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

For running models locally, priced in the US. At 128k context the first runs 75 models fully in memory, the second 41.

In short

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB has more memory for models: 256 GB against 32 GB. At 128k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB runs 75 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 41; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB holds DeepSeek V4 Flash. On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is about 2.1× as fast as the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB costs $7,999 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 $7,489 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is $510 cheaper.

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

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB

$7,999

Amazon

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

$7,489

Amazon

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac Studio M3 Ultra 256GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
ChipApple M3 Ultra (80-core GPU)–
Memory bus1024-bit512-bit
Memory bandwidth819 GB/s1,792 GB/s
FP16 compute28 TFLOPS209 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalCUDA
Unified memory256 GB–
GPU can use by default192 GB–
GPU can use, tuned248 GB–
Operating systemmacos–
ProcessorM3 Ultra 32-core–
Storage2000 GB–
GPU–GeForce RTX 5090
Memory–32 GB GDDR7
Board power–575 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 Studio M3 Ultra 256GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
DeepSeek V4 Flash14tok/sMXFP4won't run
GLM 5.3 Flash18tok/sUD-Q4_K_XLwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next5tok/sQ8_0won't run
Qwen 3.8 27B14tok/sQ8_036tok/sUD-Q6_K
MiniMax M2.78tok/sUD-Q5_K_Mwon't run
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B23tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.6 27B14tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ6_K
Qwen3 Coder Next43tok/sQ8_0offload
gpt-oss 120B40tok/sMXFP4won't run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B23tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 31B12tok/sQ8_037tok/sQ4_K_M
Mistral Small 4 119B30tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B55tok/sQ8_0128tok/sUD-Q6_K
Qwen 3.5 27B14tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ6_K
Gemma 4 26B-A4B45tok/sQ8_095tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.5 Air8tok/sQ8_0won't run
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B55tok/sQ8_0129tok/sQ6_K
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B50tok/sQ8_0offload
GLM 4.7 Flash26tok/sQ8_060tok/sQ6_K
Devstral Small 2 24B11tok/sQ8_0offload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B76tok/sUD-Q6_K_XLoffload
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B75tok/sQ8_0227tok/sQ4_K_M
gpt-oss 20B57tok/sMXFP4118tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B20tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3 32B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 12B35tok/sQ8_073tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B38tok/sQ8_080tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B13tok/sQ8_037tok/sQ5_K_M
Mistral Small 3.2 24B11tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Llama 3.3 70B5tok/sQ8_0won't run
Ministral 3 14B15tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ5_K_M
Qwen3 14B14tok/sQ8_035tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B19tok/sQ8_040tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B19tok/sQ8_040tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 4B60tok/sQ8_0126tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B20tok/sQ8_041tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B17tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B44tok/sQ8_093tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B43tok/sQ8_089tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B22tok/sQ6_K47tok/sQ6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B249tok/sQ8_0519tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B218tok/sQ8_0455tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B174tok/sQ5_K_M363tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B94tok/sQ8_0197tok/sQ8_0
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking70tok/sQ8_0146tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B64tok/sQ8_0134tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B49tok/sQ8_0102tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B49tok/sQ8_0102tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B44tok/smlx-8bit91tok/smlx-8bit
granite vision 4.1 4b37tok/sQ8_077tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b36tok/sQ8_076tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.6V Flash35tok/sQ8_072tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B34tok/sQ8_071tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking31tok/smlx-8bit65tok/smlx-8bit
LFM2.5 24B A2B25tok/sQ8_053tok/sQ6_K
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B21tok/sQ8_043tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 251220tok/sQ8_041tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Devstral Small 250711tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250611tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250711tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 250911tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek V4 Flash 073111tok/sMXFP4won't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp11tok/sMXFP4won't run
granite 4.2 30b8tok/sQ8_0offload
GLM 4.5V8tok/sQ8_0won't run
GLM 4.6V8tok/sQ8_0won't run
MiniMax M28tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
MiniMax M2.18tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
MiniMax M2.58tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B5tok/sQ8_0won't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 25123tok/sQ8_0won't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128B3tok/sQ8_0won't run
DeepSeek R1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 0528won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.2won't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won'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 M3won't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB to run bigger models. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 for speed. Choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
At 128k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB runs 75 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 41; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB holds DeepSeek V4 Flash.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
On the models both run fully in memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is about 2.1× as fast as the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
In the US the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB costs $7,999 at Amazon and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 $7,489 at Amazon: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is $510 cheaper.

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