Cheapest box to run DeepSeek-V4-Flash at Q6_K
DeepSeek’s DeepSeek-V4-Flash is 284B parameters, 13B of them read per token. The number below is computed from that and each vendor’s published specs, not asserted. Switch the quant or the context and it recomputes in place.
DeepSeek-V4-Flash at Q6_K needs 234GB.
Cheapest Config that fits: Mac Studio, M5 Ultra, 512GB. Fits, 270GB headroom. Est. 56.3 tok/s.
No price yet: Ships late October 2026. Apple has not published a price.
Price history: 34 days recorded.
Compressed sparse attention. Each layer stores one latent, divided by the compression ratio in its config (mostly 4x or 128x); the figure matches DeepSeek's own claim of about a tenth of the V3 cache.
Offers — Mac Studio, M5 Ultra, 512GB, 1TB
Ships late October 2026. Apple has not published a price.
- Mac mini, M6, 16GB$1,099Won't fit−221GB headroom
- Mac mini, M6, 24GB$1,299Won't fit−213GB headroom
- Mac mini, M6, 32GB$1,499Won't fit−205GB headroom
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 24GB$1,699Won't fit−213GB headroom
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 48GB$2,499Won't fit−190GB headroom
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 36GB$2,499Won't fit−201GB headroom
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 64GB$2,899Won't fit−175GB headroom
- GeForce RTX 5090, 32GB$2,999.99+hostWon't fit−203GB headroom
- Won't fit−175GB headroom
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 48GB$3,099Won't fit−190GB headroom
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 64GB$3,499Won't fit−175GB headroom
- Won't fit−114GB headroom
- Won't fit−146GB headroom
- Won't fit−114GB headroom
- Won't fit−114GB headroom
- Won't fit−114GB headroom
- Won't fit−146GB headroom
- Tight14GB headroomest. 38.4 tok/s
- Tight14GB headroomest. 56.3 tok/s
- Fits270GB headroomest. 56.3 tok/s
| Config | Memory | Price | $/GB | Fit | Headroom | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini, M6 | 16GB | $1,099 | $69 | Won't fit | −221GB | — |
| Mac mini, M6 | 24GB | $1,299 | $54 | Won't fit | −213GB | — |
| Mac mini, M6 | 32GB | $1,499 | $47 | Won't fit | −205GB | — |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 24GB | $1,699 | $71 | Won't fit | −213GB | — |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 48GB | $2,499 | $52 | Won't fit | −190GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 36GB | $2,499 | $69 | Won't fit | −201GB | — |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 64GB | $2,899 | $45 | Won't fit | −175GB | — |
| GeForce RTX 5090 | 32GB | $2,999.99+host | $94 | Won't fit | −203GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M4 Max, refurb | 64GB | $3,049 | $48 | Won't fit | −175GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 48GB | $3,099 | $65 | Won't fit | −190GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 64GB | $3,499 | $55 | Won't fit | −175GB | — |
| Ascent GX10, GB10 Grace Blackwell | 128GB | $3,999.99 | $31 | Won't fit | −114GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M3 Ultra, refurb | 96GB | $4,329 | $45 | Won't fit | −146GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M4 Max, refurb | 128GB | $4,409 | $34 | Won't fit | −114GB | — |
| DGX Spark, GB10 Grace Blackwell | 128GB | $4,699 | $37 | Won't fit | −114GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 128GB | $5,099 | $40 | Won't fit | −114GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 96GB | $5,499 | $57 | Won't fit | −146GB | — |
| Mac Studio, M3 Ultra, refurb | 256GB | $7,729 | $30 | Tight | 14GB | 38.4 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 256GB | $9,499 | $37 | Tight | 14GB | 56.3 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 512GB | — | — | Fits | 270GB | 56.3 tok/s |
GeForce RTX 5090 is a card, not a computer: every price shown for it is the cheapest listing we found plus $1,000 for the minimum host machine.
memory = 284B × 0.820 B/param (6.56 bits) + 0.006 GB/1K × 8K K/V + 1.2 GB runtime
speed = bandwidth × 0.5 ÷ (13B active × 0.820 B/param) = 10.7 GB read per token
usable = memory − operating system reserve (8% on a Mac, 6% on a DGX Spark, 4% on a card)
Bandwidth is the vendor’s published figure. Every speed is an estimate and says so. Methodology.
What else Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB runs
- Kimi-K2-InstructQ3_K_M, est. 38.4 tok/s
- DeepSeek-V3Q5_K_M, est. 22.9 tok/s
- DeepSeek-R1Q5_K_M, est. 22.9 tok/s
- Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-InstructQ6_K, est. 20.9 tok/s
- Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128EQ8_0, est. 33.2 tok/s
- GLM-4.6Q8_0, est. 17.6 tok/s
Best quant that still fits at 8K context, largest model first. Full list on the Config page.
Bandwidth 1.2TB/s, usable memory 504GB of 512GB.