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by CobaltFire 27 days ago
$4.8k for 48GB Max (what the parent said). Half of your quote.

Even a 128GB is $6.8k today. Still only 2/3 your quote.

Bandwidth is relevant (I have both a 5090 and an M4 Max 128GB Studio, so have direct comparison right here), but quote the cost appropriately!
1 comments
mips_avatar 27 days ago
You need the 128gb ram config to get the 614 GB/s bandwidth (which is $6999), you could skip out on upgrading the storage to save money but at that point I think most people upgrade the storage too at which point it's $8-10k + tax.
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CobaltFire 27 days ago
No? Any M5 Max with the upgraded GPU has the full bandwidth, which includes the 48GB model the original poster mentioned. Same as the M4 Max, where only the trimmed part had a lower bandwidth.

Why are you throwing in extra cost for something thats not necessary? I know multiple people with 128GB Macs and none of us upgraded the storage. Especially not on a Studio (which isn't currently available).

I will say that their $3k number is off. I somehow missed that, and its too low.

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mips_avatar 27 days ago
I made a mistake, there is a $5k config with high memory bandwidth. The Max chip has two tiers (I incorrectly thought the tiers were based on memory capacity), you need the higher tier Max GPU upgrade (+$300) to get the 614 GB/s memory bandwidth but you don't need to upgrade the RAM to 128 GB to get the full memory bandwidth. So to get the 614 GB/s you need to upgrade to the max chip + upgraded GPU, but you can spec it at only 48gb if you want. So the total for an m5 max with 614 GB/s memory bandwidth is $4999-$9999 depending on config.

Still 3x lower memory Bandwidth than a dual 3090 setup which you can build for $3k with parts from facebook marketplace and run in your basement.

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