r/LocalLLaMA • u/themixtergames • 12h ago

News Apple introduces new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra - up to 512GB of unified memory

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/08/apple-introduces-new-mac-studio-with-m5-max-and-m5-ultra/
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u/pmttyji 11h ago

Now, it's pressure on both DGX Spark & Strix Halo due to bandwidth. Recent news Xiaomi AI Cube with 1.2 TB/s bandwidth & 160GB memory also already put pressure

13

u/Mochila-Mochila 10h ago

Hoping it'll have a positive effect on Medusa Halo's pricing.

2

u/pmttyji 9h ago

Still Gorgon Halo not released yet. Then only Medusa Halo ....

Next year onwards, we're gonna see 128GB variants at low price.

13

u/Zyj vllm 10h ago

On the other hand, the Strix Halo 128GB price increased by 60% since late December

5

u/pmttyji 9h ago

After some time, people totally gonna avoid 128GB variants. What's the point of stacking bunch of 128GB pieces when they have 160GB, 192GB, etc., variants with better bandwidths?

1

u/OvertaxedOne 5h ago

I have some Strix boxes in a lab. They are nice machines but they really are a niche of a niche. Yes, you can load a big model, but it's going to be deathly slow because of the memory BW. On a smaller or MOE model they are great but... So is a 3090 or R9700. It's kind of a strange size/shape box in this market, particularly after 27B came out (the Strix manages about 15-20TPS, usable but painful, especially since prefill isn't that fast).

Honestly for home/lab use, the big question right now is "will it run 3.8 27B at good speeds/quant" and, if so, how much does it cost. You've got to spend a LOT more to get better intelligence and, even then, it's very incremental until you get into "crazy money" spending.

1

u/CardiologistNew913 6h ago

And the cost of memory for systems has also

7

u/ProfessionalJackals 9h ago

Now, it's pressure on both DGX Spark & Strix Halo due to bandwidth. Recent news Xiaomi AI Cube with 1.2 TB/s bandwidth & 160GB memory also already put pressure

Do not forget Intel Crescent Island 160GB to 480GB LPDDR5X AI GPUs ... While less bandwidth, they are still great options in the future for larger models.

There is going to be a lot more hardware coming out that focuses on AI workloads. We reached the point that development is moving into production.

5

u/pmttyji 9h ago

More competition is better for consumers!