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Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU) vs EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only)

The EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only) gives a model 760 GB to work in (an assumed figure), against 192 GB on the Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU) (also assumed). The Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU) has 2.0× the memory bandwidth (1,200 against 614.4 GB/s), which sets the ceiling on generation speed. The largest 4-bit model each holds at 8,192 tokens of context: GLM-5.3 Flash on the Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU), Kimi K2.6 on the EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only). The EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only) has no complete price: motherboard, ram and cooling prices not included. Rows where the two differ are tinted.

Apple unified memory

Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU)

The full M5 Ultra Mac Studio. Apple lists a 512GB option for this chip as coming in late October 2026; until it ships, 256GB is the largest orderable memory.

gpt-oss-20b, 4-bit: ~200–357 tok/sestimate

CPU + RAM server

EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only)

A single-socket Turin box whose 768 GB holds the largest open MoE models at 4-bit, generating at speeds set by ~600 GB/s of memory bandwidth. No GPU, so prompt processing is slow.

gpt-oss-20b, 4-bit: –

Specifications of the Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU) and the EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only)
SpecificationApple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU)EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only)
KindApple unified memory · AppleCPU + RAM server · DIY
Chip or GPUsM5 Ultra (36-core CPU, 80-core GPU)not published
Memory96 GB, 256 GB768 GB RAM
Memory for models192 GB (Default GPU limit)assumption760 GB (System RAM)assumption
Other memory figure248 GB (Limit raised with sysctl)assumptionnone
Memory bandwidth1,200 GB/s614.4 GB/s
Price~$6,799–$10,799~$3,663 + unpriced parts (motherboard, ram and cooling prices not included)
Largest at 4-bit, 8k contextGLM-5.3 FlashKimi K2.6
SoftwareMetal, MLX
Power480 W1000 W power supply

What each one runs

Every model in the catalog that at least one of the two holds at 4-bit with 8,192 tokens of context. Copper speeds are measured medians; outlined ones are estimates. Rows where only one fits, or where the speed differs by more than a quarter, are tinted.

ModelApple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU)EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only)
Kimi K2.61T, 32B active · 543.6 GB filedoes not fit–
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash552B, 16B active · 483.0 GB filedoes not fit–
GLM-5.3753.3B · 435.2 GB filedoes not fit–
DeepSeek V3.2671B, 37B active · 377.6 GB filedoes not fit–
MiniMax M3428B, 23B active · 243.3 GB fileFits with raised limitassumed limit~28–51 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B397B, 17B active · 227.3 GB fileFits with raised limitassumed limit~38–68 tok/sestimate–
GLM-5.3 Flash320B, 18B active · 186.0 GB file~36–63 tok/sestimate–
Hy3295B, 21B active · 169.6 GB file~31–55 tok/sestimate–
MiniMax M2.7228.7B · 129.3 GB file––
Qwen3.8 Flash-Next125B, 6B active · 111.4 GB file~70–124 tok/sestimate–
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B120B, 12B active · 81.0 GB file~46–82 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.5 122B-A10B122B, 10B active · 71.3 GB file~64–113 tok/sestimate–
Mistral Medium 3.5 128B128B · 69.8 GB file~12–15 tok/sestimate–
GLM-4.5-Air106B, 12B active · 68.0 GB file~48–86 tok/sestimate–
Mistral Small 4 119B (2603)119B, 6.5B active · 67.6 GB file~101–179 tok/sestimate–
Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct109B, 17B active · 60.9 GB file~39–70 tok/sestimate–
gpt-oss-120b117B, 5.1B active · 58.5 GB file111 tok/smedian of 1 run–
Qwen3 Coder Next80B, 3B active · 45.2 GB file102 tok/smedian of 2 runs–
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct70B · 39.6 GB file~21–26 tok/sestimate–
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B30B, 3B active · 23.7 GB file~157–279 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B35B, 3B active · 20.8 GB file~209–373 tok/sestimate–
Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B35B, 3B active · 20.2 GB file~214–382 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B Instruct30.5B, 3.3B active · 17.3 GB file~199–354 tok/sestimate–
Gemma 4 31B IT30.7B · 17.1 GB file~48–60 tok/sestimate–
Granite 4.2 30B29.3B · 16.8 GB file~49–61 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.8 27B27B · 16.2 GB file50 tok/smedian of 4 runs–
Gemma 4 26B-A4B IT25.2B, 3.8B active · 15.9 GB file~155–277 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.6 27B27B · 15.7 GB file~52–65 tok/sestimate–
Devstral Small 2 24B (2512)24B · 13.3 GB file~61–77 tok/sestimate–
gpt-oss-20b21B, 3.6B active · 10.8 GB file~200–357 tok/sestimate–
Phi-414.7B · 8.3 GB file~99–123 tok/sestimate–
Ministral 3 14B Reasoning (2512)13.9B · 7.7 GB file~107–133 tok/sestimate–
Gemma 4 12B IT11.95B · 6.6 GB file~124–154 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.5 9B9B · 5.3 GB file~155–193 tok/sestimate–
Granite 4.2 8B8.8B · 5.2 GB file~159–198 tok/sestimate–
Gemma 4 E4B IT8B · 5.0 GB file~290–361 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3 8B8.2B · 4.7 GB file~175–218 tok/sestimate–
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct8B · 4.6 GB file~179–223 tok/sestimate–
Qwen3.5 4B4B · 2.6 GB file~321–400 tok/sestimate–

Full pages: Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra, 80-core GPU) · EPYC 9355P + 768 GB 12-channel DDR5 (CPU only) · check a different quant or context length