Which machine for which person

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Each class wins on a different number. This is the number to look at for each. Every figure is from the spec table or computed with the rules; derived figures are bounds.

RTX desktop (RTX 5090, 24 GB cards, RTX PRO)

The deciding numbers are 1,792 GB/s and 209.5 TFLOPS dense FP16/BF16 on one 32 GB card spec [S32]. For models that fit in 24-32 GB (8B dense, 30B-A3B MoE, ~50B dense at 4-bit), the 5090's bandwidth is 2.9x an M5 Max's and 6.6x a DGX Spark's derived; its prefill floor for the 8B example is 1.2 s against 4.1 s-4.2 s for the AMD chips derived (the Spark, the Macs and the RTX PRO cards publish no dense FP16/BF16 peak to put next to it); and CUDA is the default target of common fine-tuning and serving software. The limits are memory per card, power (575 W per 5090 plus the PC spec [S33]), and price: in September 2026 the three cheapest 5090 listings on eBay averaged $5,581 a day cited [S37], about 2.8x its $1,999 MSRP (new or used not stated).

1. GeForce RTX 5090
   32 GB · 1,792 GB/s spec [S32] [S33]
   $1,999: card, MSRP (2025-01-06) spec [S36]
   $5,581: card, eBay: average of the 3 lowest listings per day, Sept 2026, new or used not stated (2026-09) cited [S37]
   NVIDIA RTX 5090 (maker page)
2. RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell
   96 GB · 1,792 GB/s spec [S40]
   $16,000: Workstation Edition, NVIDIA US Marketplace (2026-08-12) cited [S49]
   NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 (maker page)
3. GeForce RTX 4090 (previous generation)
   24 GB · 1,008 GB/s spec [S32]
   $1,599: launch price, Oct 2022 (2022-10) cited [S38]
   NVIDIA RTX 4090 (maker page)
4. RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell
   24 GB · 672 GB/s spec [S39]
   $3,134: lowest new US listing (tracker of Newegg / Best Buy / B&H) (2026-10-15) cited [S54]
   $2,999: PNY list price at a reseller (2026-10-15) cited [S55]
   NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 (maker page)

DGX Spark-class GB10 machines

The deciding numbers are 128 GB under CUDA in a 240 W box, and 200 Gb/s clustering up to four units spec [S14] [S15]. This is the machine for people who develop for NVIDIA's data-centre software and want the same stack on the desk, or who fine-tune mid-size models with CUDA tools. The limit is 273 GB/s: decode ceilings on large dense models are about 23% of an M5 Ultra's and about equal to AMD's derived. $3,999 at launch (2025-10-13), $4,699 from the week of 2026-02-23, $6,950 from 2026-10-02; OEM 128 GB prices not verified cited [S50] [S51] [S21] [S17].

1. DGX Spark, 128 GB (NVIDIA and OEM GB10 versions)
   128 GB · 273 GB/s spec [S14]
   $6,950: NVIDIA's own unit (Founders Edition) (2026-10-02) cited [S17]
   NVIDIA DGX Spark (maker page)
2. DGX Spark, 64 GB (partners only)
   64 GB · 273 GB/s cited [S17]
   $4,999: partner units, from (2026-10-02) spec [S18] [S17]
   NVIDIA DGX Spark (maker page)

AMD Ryzen AI Max mini PCs

The deciding number is cost per GB. For 128 GB with 96 GB usable by the GPU: $27-31 per GB derived. For 192 GB with 160 GB usable (PRO 495): $35-39 per GB derived; that machine holds a 235B-A22B MoE model (132 GB resident) a 128 GB machine cannot. Bandwidth (256-273 GB/s) and therefore decode ceilings are about equal to the Spark's. AMD publishes 60-61 TFLOPS FP16 for the GPU; NVIDIA publishes no FP16/BF16 figure for GB10, so the two cannot be compared on prefill from specs. The caveat is software: AMD lists the chip as supported under ROCm 7.2.1, with production PyTorch support, and has officially validated only FP16 so far spec [S26].

1. Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 systems (AMD Ryzen AI Halo next-gen, Framework Desktop 192 GB)
   192 GB · 273 GB/s spec [S24]
   $6,799: Framework Desktop DIY, pre-order (2026-09-30) spec [S27] [S59]
   $7,449: Framework Desktop pre-built, 2 TB SSD, Fedora (2026-09-30) cited [S52] [S29]
   Framework Desktop (maker page)
2. Ryzen AI Max+ 395 systems (Framework Desktop, AMD Ryzen AI Halo, others)
   128 GB · 256 GB/s spec [S22]
   $3,449: Framework Desktop DIY (2026-10-15) spec [S27]
   $3,999.99: AMD Ryzen AI Halo, 2 TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro or Linux (Micro Center only) (2026-07-06) cited [S53] [S31]
   Framework Desktop (maker page)

Apple Silicon Macs

We make a Mac app; read this section with that in mind. The deciding numbers are bandwidth at large capacity: 614 GB/s at up to 128 GB (M5 Max) and 1.2 TB/s at up to 512 GB (M5 Ultra) spec [S1]. For a model over 100 GB, these are the options that hold 235B-A22B (132 GB resident, 12.4 GB read per token):

Prices: M5 Ultra 36/80-core, 256 GB / 1 TB, derived from Apple's base price and configurator steps (2026-08-25) derived [S1] [S57] [S58]; PRO 495 Framework DIY, pre-order spec [S27]; two Sparks at NVIDIA's $6,950 each cited [S17]; two RTX PRO 6000 at NVIDIA's $16,000 listing, out of stock, plus a host PC cited [S49].

So on one unit the M5 Ultra's ceiling is 4.4x the PRO 495's at about 1.6x its DIY price, and 2.2x that of two Sparks at about 0.8x their price; two RTX PRO 6000 cards have about 3x the M5 Ultra's ceiling at about 3x its price before the host PC derived. The limits: no CUDA; Apple publishes no FLOPS figure, so prefill and fine-tuning speed have to be measured; and whole-machine cost per GB is higher than the AMD machines. Memory upgrade steps cost about the same per GB: Apple charges $2,000 to go from 48 to 128 GB on the M5 Max 40-core ($25 per GB) cited [S10], and Framework's 64 to 128 GB step on the Max+ 395 is $1,490 ($23 per GB) spec [S27].

1. Mac Studio, M5 Ultra (30-core CPU / 64-core GPU, or 36 / 80)
   96 / 256 / 512 GB · 1,200 GB/s spec [S1]
   $5,499: 30/64-core, 96 GB / 1 TB (2026-08-25) spec [S2]
   $10,799: 36/80-core, 256 GB / 1 TB (Apple configurator: 512 GB/16 TB $29,799 minus the 256 GB and 1 TB steps) (2026-10-30) spec [S62]
   Apple Mac Studio (maker page)
2. Mac Studio, M5 Max 18-core CPU / 40-core GPU
   48 / 64 / 128 GB · 614 GB/s spec [S1]
   $3,099: 48 GB / 512 GB (2026-08-25) cited [S10]
   $5,099: 128 GB / 512 GB ($3,099 + $2,000) (2026-08-25) derived [S10]
   Apple Mac Studio (maker page)
3. MacBook Pro 14/16, M5 Max 40-core GPU
   48 / 64 / 128 GB · 614 GB/s spec [S4]
   not verified for 128 GB configurations; check apple.com
   Apple MacBook Pro (maker page)
4. Mac Studio, M5 Max 18-core CPU / 32-core GPU
   36 GB · 460 GB/s spec [S1]
   $2,499: 36 GB / 512 GB (2026-08-25) spec [S2] [S9]
   Apple Mac Studio (maker page)
5. Mac mini, M5 Pro
   24 / 48 / 64 GB · 307 GB/s spec [S5]
   $1,699: 24 GB / 512 GB (2026-08-25) cited [S13]
   $2,699: 64 GB / 512 GB ($1,699 + $1,000) (2026-08-25) derived [S13]
   Also with this chip: MacBook Pro 16, M5 Pro (18-core CPU / 20-core GPU), 24 GB / 1 TB, at Walmart We earn a commission if you buy through this link.
   Apple Mac mini (maker page)