What is the biggest model the Apple M3 Max can run?

gpt-oss 120B, which needs about 67 GB, on the 128 GB version at about 48 tok/s.

What is the biggest model the NVIDIA DGX Spark can run?

gpt-oss 120B, which needs about 67 GB, on the 128 GB version at about 33 tok/s.

Apple M3 Max vs NVIDIA DGX Spark for local AI

Q: Which is better for local AI, the Apple M3 Max or the NVIDIA DGX Spark?

The Apple M3 Max, for speed. They fit the same models. Both fit the same models we track, up to gpt-oss 120B. The Apple M3 Max generates about 47% faster on any model both can run, because it has 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth to the NVIDIA DGX Spark's 273 GB/s.

Both fit the same models we track, up to gpt-oss 120B. The Apple M3 Max generates about 47% faster on any model both can run, because it has 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth to the NVIDIA DGX Spark's 273 GB/s.

The numbers that matter

Memory and bandwidth

Memory decides which models fit. Bandwidth decides how fast they generate, because every token reads the model's active weights once.

	Apple M3 Max	NVIDIA DGX Spark
Memory	36 or 48 or 64 or 96 or 128 GB unified memory	128 GB unified memory
Usable for models	About 96 GB of 128 GB	About 96 GB of 128 GB
Bandwidth	400 GB/s	273 GB/s
Biggest model that fits	gpt-oss 120B	gpt-oss 120B
Best everyday pick	gpt-oss 120B, ~48 tok/s	gpt-oss 120B, ~33 tok/s

Model by model

Every model, side by side

Estimated generation speed at the largest memory size each was sold in (128 GB and 128 GB).

Model	Apple M3 Max	NVIDIA DGX Spark
Qwen3 4B About 4 GB	~88 tok/s Runs great	~60 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 8B About 7 GB	~42 tok/s Runs great	~29 tok/s Usable
Gemma 3 12B About 10 GB	~27 tok/s Usable	~19 tok/s Usable
Qwen3 14B About 11 GB	~24 tok/s Usable	~16 tok/s Usable
gpt-oss 20B About 16 GB	~70 tok/s Runs great	~48 tok/s Runs great
Gemma 3 27B About 19 GB	~13 tok/s Usable	~9 tok/s Slow
Qwen3 30B-A3B About 21 GB	~70 tok/s Runs great	~48 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 32B About 22 GB	~11 tok/s Usable	~8 tok/s Slow
Llama 3.3 70B About 45 GB	~5 tok/s Slow	~3 tok/s Slow
gpt-oss 120B About 67 GB	~48 tok/s Runs great	~33 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 235B-A22B About 144 GB	Needs 144 GB	Needs 144 GB
DeepSeek R1 671B About 406 GB	Needs 406 GB	Needs 406 GB

Which should you get?

The Apple M3 Max, for speed. They fit the same models. Price matters as much as either number: check used prices on the builds page, where every parts list has a measured or estimated speed.

How we estimate

Both columns use the same formula: memory bandwidth divided by the weights read per token, calibrated on our own rack, with Ollama's default 4-bit sizes. Real results are usually within about a third. Measured either one? Send us the number.

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