GPU comparison
MacBook Pro M5 Max (128GB) vs NVIDIA RTX 3090 (24GB) for local LLMs
How the two stack up for running open-source LLMs locally — memory, bandwidth, price, and how many of the 64 tracked models each one can run.
| MacBook Pro M5 Max (128GB) | NVIDIA RTX 3090 (24GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 128.0 GB | 24.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 614 GB/s | 936 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $5,099 | $1,099 |
| LLMs it runs | 57 of 64 | 47 of 64 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 Flash Next (MoE) · 79–118 tok/s | Qwen3.8 27B · 35–53 tok/s |
The MacBook Pro M5 Max (128GB) runs 10 more of the tracked models (57 vs 47), thanks to its 128.0 GB of memory. The NVIDIA RTX 3090 (24GB) has more memory bandwidth (936 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.