STRIX HALO VS MAC STUDIO
answer: For big models per dollar, a 128GB Strix Halo box; for speed per token, a Mac Studio with enough memory — but the starting Mac Studio M5 Max has only 36GB, so it runs less than a 128GB Strix Halo box. strix_halo_128gb: $3,449 · UP 73% SINCE FEB 2025 mac_studio_m5_max: $2,499 (36GB start) · 460 GB/s
HOW THIS IS DETERMINED
compare: - memory decides what fits (columns 70B / 120B) - bandwidth decides tokens per second once it fits - price and price trend decide when to buy prices: official maker list / MSRP only, latest recorded point, linked in SOURCES fit: weights file size (Hugging Face) + KV cache at 8,192 tokens (model config.json) + 10% overhead, compared with usable memory: VRAM − 1 GB, or 75% of unified / system memory (details) speed: only published llama.cpp runs; we never estimate tok/s not_considered: street prices, used hardware, multi-GPU builds, power and noise
LIVE TABLE
| Framework Desk 128GB | 128GB unified | 256 GB/s | $3,449 | YES | YES | 47.5 [1] | UP 73% SINCE FEB 2025 | BUY NOW → Framework |
| AMD Ryzen AI Halo | 128GB unified | 256 GB/s | $3,999.99 (Jul 11) | YES | YES | 47.5 [1] | *NEW* | BUY NOW → Micro Center |
| Corsair AI WS 300 128GB | 128GB unified | 256 GB/s | $4,599.99 (Oct 29) | YES | YES | 47.5 [1] | DOWN 2.1% SINCE AUG 2026 | BUY NOW → Corsair |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 128GB unified | 256 GB/s | $3,499.99 (Oct 15) | YES | YES | 47.5 [1] | UP 6.1% SINCE MAY 2026 | BUY NOW → GMKtec |
| Minisforum MS-S1 MAX | 128GB unified | 256 GB/s | $2,919.90 (Sep 13) | YES | YES | 47.5 [1] | FLAT SINCE JAN 2026 | BUY NOW → Minisforum |
| DGX Spark 128GB | 128GB unified | 273 GB/s | $6,950 (Oct 10) | YES | YES | 58.7 [2] | UP 74% SINCE NOV 2025 | BUY NOW → NVIDIA |
| Mac Studio M5 Max | 36GB unified | 460 GB/s | $2,499 | no | no | — | FLAT SINCE SEP 2026 | BUY NOW → Apple |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra | 64GB unified | 1200 GB/s | $5,499 | TIGHT | no | — | FLAT SINCE SEP 2026 | BUY NOW → Apple |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | 24GB unified | 307 GB/s | $1,699 | no | no | — | FLAT SINCE SEP 2026 | BUY NOW → Apple |
SOURCES
Current sources only. Every older price point and its source is in the paid export.
| # | what | source | fetched |
|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | GMKtec EVO-X2 (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128GB), ROCm, posted in llama.cpp #16578 | github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/discussions/16578 | 2026-11-13 |
| [2] | ggml-org DGX Spark bench, build 7941, depth 0 | github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/blob/master/benches/dgx-spark/dgx-spa... | 2026-11-13 |