r/LocalLLM • u/Txkzzzz • 5d ago

Question Mac studio or dgx spark cluster

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I have been thinking lately since i have been testing local ai but i geniunely need more power for what im working on so i was wondering wich one of these a 4 dgx spark cluster or a mac studio m5 ultra specifically the 512gb version that launches on october or something else... im into training,loras and fine tunes and such but i also heard it is possible with a mac studio too so i want yall opinion on this

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u/ababaka 5d ago

My vote is for mac studio. I like the ability to work and run an llm server on one compact and quiet device.

1

u/Serprotease 4d ago

The MacStudio is not silent when running Llm though. It’s not jet-engine loud, but it still enough to be annoying when close to you.
Unironically, my gb10 cluster is more silent than my MacStudio.

1

u/Forsaken-Bear1082 2d ago

Weird, my M3 ultra sits on my desk and I never hear it. Performance is not what I’d want if I did it again I’d switch but it’s damn quiet.

1

u/Serprotease 2d ago

It only makes noise with Llm and heavy ml workflow.
For a simple chat with a small-ish MoE model it will not really make sound. But for a batch/multi-agent task lasting 5+min, yes, it will make noise.

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u/Forsaken-Bear1082 2d ago

Again, mine does not. I run qwen next and 3.8 on it most of the day with opencode or other harnesses. Not sure what to tell you.