Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB for local AI
The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB holds 40 of the 49 current models here, and the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB holds 16. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB costs $16,301 less, though the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB is priced as the card alone, without the PC around it. On Gemma 4 12B, the strongest model both hold, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB is about 6.3× faster: 182 tok/s against 29, both estimated from memory bandwidth. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB pays for itself sooner, in 135 years against 1,071 years at 500k tokens a day, though that is each machine on its own strongest model rather than on the same one.
| Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,699 | $18,000card only |
| Memory | 24 GB | 96 GB |
| Usable by the GPU | 16 GB | 95 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 307 GB/s | 1792 GB/s |
| Power under load | 140 Wstand-in | 600 W |
| Models that fit | 16 | 40 |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 12B | Qwen3.8 27B |
| Speed on that model | 29 tok/s estimatedGemma 4 12B | 78 tok/s estimatedQwen3.8 27B |
| Pay-back on that model | Pays back in 135 years | Pays back in 1,071 years |
The 140 W beside the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB is a stand-in, not a figure for that machine: the data borrows it from the nearest hardware it does have, and the machine's own page names which and why. So the two figures above are not like for like, and the electricity in its pay-back here is priced from a borrowed number.
Run the numbers on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB · or the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB
Jump to: Side by side on Gemma 4 12B · How much use it takes to pay back · What the extra memory buys · The assumptions behind both columns
Side by side on Gemma 4 12B
The table above gives each machine the strongest model it can hold, and those are not the same model, so the two speeds in it are not a race. Gemma 4 12B is the strongest model both machines hold, so this is the pair running the same work.
| Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 29 tok/s estimated | 182 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back | Pays back in 135 years | Pays back in 1,343 years |
Run Gemma 4 12B on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB · or on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB
How much use it takes to pay back
Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both machines on the same model, at the five levels of use the calculator names. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB pays back sooner at every level of use, so this is not a choice that turns on how hard you work it.
| A day's use | Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 1,353 years | 13,433 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 338 years | 3,358 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 68 years | 672 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 17 years | 168 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 3.4 years | 34 years |
Run the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB at 20M tokens a day · or the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB
What the extra memory buys
The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB holds 24 models the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB cannot at 32k of context. The strongest of them are what the difference in memory actually buys.
| Model | Weights | Needs at 32k | On the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27BSonnet-class | 16 GB | 19 GB | 78 tok/s estimated |
| Ling 3.0 flashHaiku-class | 78 GB | 78 GB | 160 tok/s estimated |
| Qwen3.6 27BHaiku-class | 17 GB | 19 GB | 77 tok/s estimated |
| Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9BHaiku-class | 22 GB | 22 GB | 191 tok/s estimated |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3BHaiku-class | 22 GB | 23 GB | 221 tok/s estimated |
| Muse Glimmer 30BHaiku-class | 17 GB | 18 GB | 81 tok/s estimated |
18 more, on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB page.
The extra memory buys context as well. Of the 16 current models both machines hold at 32k, 4 run to a longer window on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB: the weights are a fixed size and the KV cache is not, so what the weights leave spare is what a longer context grows into. Ministral 3 14B reaches 256k there against 32k on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB, each the longest window the calculator offers that the machine still holds it at.
The Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB is also head to head with another computer: Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB · DGX Spark, 128GB · GMKtec EVO-X2, 128GB · MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 16GB · MacBook Pro M5 Pro (16-inch), 64GB · Corsair AI Workstation 300, 64GB. With a graphics card: Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB. With the same machine at another memory size: 48GB · 64GB. With the machine it replaced: Mac mini M4 Pro, 24GB.
The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB is also head to head with another card: Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB · GeForce RTX 5090, 32GB · GeForce RTX 4090, 24GB · GeForce RTX 3090, 24GB · GeForce RTX 4080, 16GB · GeForce RTX 3060, 12GB. With a complete computer: Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB · DGX Spark, 128GB · GMKtec EVO-X2, 128GB · MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 16GB · MacBook Pro M5 Pro (16-inch), 64GB.
The assumptions behind both columns
Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB is priced as the card alone, so add the PC around it before comparing it with a complete computer. All seven cards here are ranked by what each one holds. Change any of it in the calculator.
More head to head: everything the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB runs · everything the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB runs · every other match-up · the quickest pay-back at each level of use · every model against the frontier