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Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

For running models locally, priced in the US. At 128k context the first runs 70 models fully in memory, the second 29.

In short

The Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB has more memory for models: 128 GB against 24 GB. At 128k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB runs 70 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 29; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB holds Qwen 3.8 Flash Next. 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 128GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB costs $5,400 at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 $2,073 at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is $3,327 cheaper.

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

Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB

$5,400

eBay

Add to build
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

$2,073

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac Studio M4 Max 128GBNVIDIA 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 memory128 GB–
GPU can use by default96 GB–
GPU can use, tuned120 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 128GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next6tok/sUD-Q3_K_XLwon't run
Qwen 3.8 27B9tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B20tok/sQ5_K_Moffload
Qwen 3.6 27B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 Coder Next29tok/sQ8_0won't run
gpt-oss 120B27tok/sMXFP4won't run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B20tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
Gemma 4 31B8tok/sQ8_0offload
Mistral Small 4 119B24tok/sQ6_Koffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B37tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen 3.5 27B10tok/sQ8_0offload
Gemma 4 26B-A4B30tok/sQ8_064tok/sQ5_K_M
GLM 4.5 Air6tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B37tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B33tok/sQ8_0won't run
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-A3B50tok/sQ8_0offload
gpt-oss 20B38tok/sMXFP466tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B13tok/sQ8_0offload
Qwen3 32B5tok/sQ8_0won't run
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
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B5tok/sQ8_0won't run
Llama 3.3 70B4tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
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
Qwen2.5 0.5B166tok/sQ8_0292tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B145tok/sQ8_0256tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B116tok/sQ5_K_M204tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B63tok/sQ8_0111tok/sQ8_0
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking47tok/sQ8_082tok/sQ8_0
Spark X2.5 4B45tok/smlx-4bit79tok/smlx-4bit
MiniCPM5 2B43tok/sQ8_075tok/sQ8_0
FrogNano 4B 260940tok/sQ8_070tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B33tok/sQ8_057tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B33tok/sQ8_057tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B Thinking 250630tok/sQ8_052tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B29tok/smlx-8bit51tok/smlx-8bit
GLM 4 9B 041426tok/smlx-5bit46tok/smlx-5bit
granite vision 4.1 4b25tok/sQ8_044tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b24tok/sQ8_043tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.6V Flash23tok/sQ8_041tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B23tok/sQ8_040tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking21tok/smlx-8bit37tok/smlx-8bit
LFM2.5 24B A2B17tok/sQ8_0offload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B14tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ5_K_M
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 251213tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATED12tok/smlx-4bitoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B9tok/sQ8_0offload
Devstral Small 25078tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 25068tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 25078tok/sQ8_0offload
Magistral Small 25098tok/sQ8_0offload
GLM 4.5V6tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
GLM 4.6V6tok/sQ4_K_Mwon't run
granite 4.2 30b5tok/sQ8_0won't run
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B4tok/sQ5_K_Mwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flashwon't runwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.7won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 0528won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Zerowon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1 Terminuswon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.2won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Expwon't runwon't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 2512won't runwon't run
GLM 4.5won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6won't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won't runwon't run
GLM 5won'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 Dev 72Bwon'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 M2won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.1won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M3won't runwon't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
Choose the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB 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 128GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
At 128k context the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB runs 70 of the models we track fully in memory and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 29; only the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB holds Qwen 3.8 Flash Next.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB 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 128GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090?
In the US the Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB costs $5,400 at eBay and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 $2,073 at eBay: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is $3,327 cheaper.

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