Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB for local AI
Two machines people weigh against each other for running models at home. Same models, same prices, same arithmetic on both sides.
| Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,699 | $18,000 |
| 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 W | 600 W |
| Models that fit | 13 | 33 |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 12B | Qwen3.8 27B |
| Speed on that model | 29 tok/s | 78 tok/s |
| Pay-back | Pays back in 135 years | Pays back in 227 years |
Run the numbers on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 24GB · or the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, 96GB
Both columns use the same default usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k context, and each machine's strongest model that fits.