Apple Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra)

Hardware · Apple Silicon

What AI models can the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB) run?

Unified memory
512 GB
Usable for models
384 GB
Memory bandwidth
1,200 GB/s
FP16 compute
37.7 TFLOPS
Released
2026
615 / 621 LLMs run Best: Nex N2.6 (321B-A18B) 61 / 61 Image models run Best: MiniMax H3 Image 43 / 43 Video models run Best: LTX-2.5 (22B, video + audio) 70 / 70 Decision models run Best: Qwen3 Reranker 4B

macOS lets the GPU use roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of unified memory by default, so we plan around that figure rather than the full 512 GB.

More about this hardware

MakerApple Silicon
TypeApple silicon (two dies joined)
ChipApple M5 Ultra

Apps that run models well on the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

macOS

  1. LM StudioRuns the MLX build, typically 20–35% faster than GGUF for a model with 8B active parameters on Apple silicon.
  2. OllamaOne command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
  3. MLX LMRuns the MLX build, typically 20–35% faster than GGUF for a model with 8B active parameters on Apple silicon.
  4. JanRuns the MLX build, typically 20–35% faster than GGUF for a model with 8B active parameters on Apple silicon.

For a typical model that fits in memory. Each model page picks the best app for that model on this hardware. All apps

1 product with the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Best LLMs for the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Quality Model Quant Memory Speed Runs
96Excellent quality (A+) · 96 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 98/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Nex N2.6 (321B-A18B)Nex-AGI Q6_K 295 GB 41.6 tok/s Runs great
95Excellent quality (A+) · 95 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 98/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GLM-5.3 Flash (320B-A18B)Zhipu AI Q6_K 295 GB 41.6 tok/s Runs great
95Excellent quality (A+) · 95 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 98/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiMo V2.6 Flash (310B-A15B)Xiaomi Q6_K 286 GB 48.4 tok/s Runs great
94Excellent quality (A+) · 94 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 97/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Naive N0.5 Flash (309B-A15.5B)Naive AI Q6_K 285 GB 47.1 tok/s Runs great
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 97/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Inkling Small (276B-A12B)Thinking Machines Lab Q8_0 314 GB 44.7 tok/s Runs great
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 97/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiniMax M2.7 (230B-A10B)MiniMax Q8_0 276 GB 51.8 tok/s Runs great
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. DeepSeek V4 Flash (284B-A13B)DeepSeek Q6_K 281 GB 54.4 tok/s Runs great
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiMo V2.5 (310B-A15B)Xiaomi Q6_K 286 GB 48.4 tok/s Runs great
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Step 3.7 Flash (198B-A11B)StepFun Q8_0 245 GB 48.0 tok/s Runs great
96Excellent quality (A+) · 96 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Qwen3.8 Flash Next (125B-A6B)Alibaba Q8_0 222 GB 76.4 tok/s Runs great
92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiniMax M2.5 (230B-A10B)MiniMax Q8_0 276 GB 51.8 tok/s Runs great
92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 96/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intern-S2 (397B-A17B)Shanghai AI Lab Q5_K_M 318 GB 50.7 tok/s Runs great

Best Image models for the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Quality Model Quant Memory Speed Runs
93Excellent quality (A+) · 93 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 83/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiniMax H3 ImageMiniMax FP16 138 GB 34 s Runs well
92Excellent quality (A+) · 92 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Krea 2 TurboKrea FP16 37.4 GB 15 s Runs well
84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 80/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs FP16 37.1 GB 6.2 s Runs great
85Excellent quality (A+) · 85 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. ERNIE-Image TurboBaidu FP16 26.4 GB 11 s Runs great
84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi) FP16 22.7 GB 8.6 s Runs great
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. HunyuanImage 3.0 (80B-A13B)Tencent FP16 170 GB 3.4 min Very slow

Best Video models for the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Quality Model Quant Memory Speed Runs
88Excellent quality (A+) · 88 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 80/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. LTX-2.5 (22B, video + audio)Lightricks FP16 82.5 GB 5.2 min Runs well
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. MiniMax H3 (33B, video + audio)MiniMax FP16 113 GB 59.3 min Very slow
88Excellent quality (A+) · 88 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Cosmos3-Super Image2Video (64B)NVIDIA FP16 139 GB 2.1 h Very slow
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 73/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. LTX-2.3Lightricks FP16 75.4 GB 22.8 min Slow
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. LTX-2 (19B, video + audio)Lightricks FP16 75.4 GB 22.8 min Slow

Best Decision models for the Apple M5 Ultra (512 GB)

Quality Model Quant Memory Speed Runs
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 95/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Qwen3 Reranker 4BAlibaba Q8_0 35.9 GB 98 ms Runs great
88Excellent quality (A+) · 88 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 94/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. zerank-2ZeroEntropy Q8_0 35.9 GB 98 ms Runs great
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 93/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Jina Reranker v3.5Jina AI F16 32.8 GB 19 ms Runs great
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 93/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Shieldstral 1.0 3BMistral AI Q8_0 35.6 GB 94 ms Runs great
84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 92/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Intern-Decision 4BShanghai AI Lab F16 40.5 GB 69 ms Runs great
84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 92/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Jina Reranker v3Jina AI F16 32.8 GB 19 ms Runs great
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. d1 3BLiquid AI F16 37.6 GB 49 ms Runs great
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. mxbai-rerank-large v2Mixedbread F16 34.5 GB 43 ms Runs great

Best LLMs by task on this hardware Open in Model Finder

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.

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