NVIDIA DGX Spark 128 GB vs Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB
Verdict
- throughputThe Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB delivers approximately 178% higher aggregate decode throughput across the 8 models both machines can run (geometric mean of the per-model ratios).
- capacityBoth machines run all 8 compared models, so this is a pure speed and cost decision rather than a capability one.
- costAt 8 hours a day, the Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB has approximately 12% lower total monthly cost (€45 against €52), for a C corporation in United States (federal).
- evidence1 of 8 model rows have at least one real measurement behind them; the rest are estimated from memory bandwidth. Margins below roughly 20% should not decide a purchase.
- recommendationThe Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB is both faster and cheaper to own here, so it is the straightforward choice unless you need something specific to the NVIDIA DGX Spark 128 GB.
Every statement above is generated from the calculations on this page by fixed rules — no prose is written for individual comparisons. If the numbers change, the verdict changes with them.
Hardware
| NVIDIA DGX Spark 128 GB | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (NL, incl. VAT) | €3.873 | €4.323 |
| Memory | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 273 GB/s | 614 GB/s |
| Achieved bandwidth | 183 GB/s (67%) | 538 GB/s (88%) |
| Nominal power | 240 W | 175 W |
| Measured load power | 170 W | 122 W |
| Idle power | 25 W | 8 W |
| Architecture | igpu unified | unified memory |
Model performance8 models run on both
Qwen3.5 122B-A10Bgpt-oss-120bQwen3-Coder 30B-A3BQwen3 30B-A3BGemma 4 26B-A4Bgpt-oss-20bLlama 3.3 70BDeepSeek-R1-Distill 32B
| Model | NVIDIA DGX Spark 128 GB | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 125.086B (10B active) | ~20.3–29.1 t/s Q4_K_M | ~57.5–82.8 t/s Q4_K_M | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +65% |
| gpt-oss-120b 116.829B (5.1B active) | 56.4 t/s MXFP4 | ~118–170 t/s MXFP4 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +61% |
| Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B 30.532B (3.3B active) | ~34.1–49.1 t/s Q8_0 | ~94.6–136 t/s Q8_0 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +64% |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B 30.532B (3.3B active) | ~34.1–49.1 t/s Q8_0 | ~94.6–136 t/s Q8_0 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +64% |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B 25.806B (3.8B active) | ~29.9–43 t/s Q8_0 | ~83.4–120 t/s Q8_0 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +64% |
| gpt-oss-20b 20.915B (3.6B active) | ~59.4–85.5 t/s MXFP4 | ~158–228 t/s MXFP4 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +62% |
| Llama 3.3 70B 70.554B | ~2–2.9 t/s Q8_0 | ~5.8–8.4 t/s Q8_0 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +66% |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill 32B 32.764B | ~4.3–6.2 t/s Q8_0 | ~12.5–18 t/s Q8_0 | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB +66% |
Differences under 10% are reported as a tie: they are smaller than the spread between published benchmarks of the same configuration, so calling a winner would be false precision. Rows where a model fits on only one machine are decided by capacity, not speed.
Economics — United States (federal), C corporation, 8h/day
| NVIDIA DGX Spark 128 GB | Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price estimate | $3,873 | $4,323 |
| Reclaimable VAT | $0 | $0 |
| Net cash at purchase | $3,873 | $4,323 |
| Monthly depreciation | $56.80 | $50.44 |
| Monthly electricity | $1.33 (10 kWh) | $0.76 (5 kWh) |
| Tax programme | §179 100.0% | §179 100.0% |
| Tax-programme benefit | $813 | $908 |
| Monthly economic cost | $51.52 | $45.27 |
| Total over 5 years | $3,091 | $2,716 |
Tax assumptions last verified 2026-09-07. Federal planning estimate only, not tax advice. State and local income tax, sales/use tax and incentives are excluded. It assumes 100% business use, a Section 179 election, enough business income to use it, and that the full annual limit remains available.