Cheapest box to run Qwen3.5-35B-A3B at Q4_K_M
Alibaba’s Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is 35B parameters, 3B 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.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B at Q4_K_M needs 22GB.
Cheapest Config that fits: Mac mini, M6, 32GB. Fits, 7GB headroom. Est. 46.9 tok/s.
Best offer today: $1,499 at Apple — in stock, checked 32 minutes ago.
Price history: 34 days recorded.
A hybrid: only 10 of 40 layers are full attention. The Gated DeltaNet layers keep a constant-size state and cache nothing per token, so the K/V figure counts the full-attention layers alone.
Offers — Mac mini, M6, 32GB, 512GB
- Mac mini, M6, 16GB$1,099Won't fit−9GB headroom
- Mac mini, M6, 24GB$1,299Won't fit−1GB headroom
- Mac mini, M6, 32GB$1,499Fits7GB headroomest. 46.9 tok/s
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 24GB$1,699Won't fit−1GB headroom
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 48GB$2,499Fits22GB headroomest. 84.7 tok/s
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 36GB$2,499Fits11GB headroomest. 127 tok/s
- Mac mini, M5 Pro, 64GB$2,899Fits36GB headroomest. 84.7 tok/s
- GeForce RTX 5090, 32GB$2,999.99+hostFits8GB headroomest. 495 tok/s
- Fits36GB headroomest. 151 tok/s
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 48GB$3,099Fits22GB headroomest. 169 tok/s
- Mac Studio, M5 Max, 64GB$3,499Fits36GB headroomest. 169 tok/s
- Fits98GB headroomest. 75.4 tok/s
- Fits66GB headroomest. 226 tok/s
- Fits98GB headroomest. 151 tok/s
- Fits98GB headroomest. 75.4 tok/s
- Fits98GB headroomest. 169 tok/s
- Fits66GB headroomest. 331 tok/s
- Fits226GB headroomest. 226 tok/s
- Fits226GB headroomest. 331 tok/s
- Fits482GB headroomest. 331 tok/s
| Config | Memory | Price | $/GB | Fit | Headroom | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini, M6 | 16GB | $1,099 | $69 | Won't fit | −9GB | — |
| Mac mini, M6 | 24GB | $1,299 | $54 | Won't fit | −1GB | — |
| Mac mini, M6 | 32GB | $1,499 | $47 | Fits | 7GB | 46.9 tok/s |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 24GB | $1,699 | $71 | Won't fit | −1GB | — |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 48GB | $2,499 | $52 | Fits | 22GB | 84.7 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 36GB | $2,499 | $69 | Fits | 11GB | 127 tok/s |
| Mac mini, M5 Pro | 64GB | $2,899 | $45 | Fits | 36GB | 84.7 tok/s |
| GeForce RTX 5090 | 32GB | $2,999.99+host | $94 | Fits | 8GB | 495 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M4 Max, refurb | 64GB | $3,049 | $48 | Fits | 36GB | 151 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 48GB | $3,099 | $65 | Fits | 22GB | 169 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 64GB | $3,499 | $55 | Fits | 36GB | 169 tok/s |
| Ascent GX10, GB10 Grace Blackwell | 128GB | $3,999.99 | $31 | Fits | 98GB | 75.4 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M3 Ultra, refurb | 96GB | $4,329 | $45 | Fits | 66GB | 226 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M4 Max, refurb | 128GB | $4,409 | $34 | Fits | 98GB | 151 tok/s |
| DGX Spark, GB10 Grace Blackwell | 128GB | $4,699 | $37 | Fits | 98GB | 75.4 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Max | 128GB | $5,099 | $40 | Fits | 98GB | 169 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 96GB | $5,499 | $57 | Fits | 66GB | 331 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M3 Ultra, refurb | 256GB | $7,729 | $30 | Fits | 226GB | 226 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 256GB | $9,499 | $37 | Fits | 226GB | 331 tok/s |
| Mac Studio, M5 Ultra | 512GB | — | — | Fits | 482GB | 331 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 = 35B × 0.604 B/param (4.83 bits) + 0.021 GB/1K × 8K K/V + 1.2 GB runtime
speed = bandwidth × 0.5 ÷ (3B active × 0.604 B/param) = 1.8 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 mini M6 32GB runs
- Qwen3.5-35B-A3BQ5_K_M, est. 40.0 tok/s
- Qwen3-32BQ5_K_M, est. 4.9 tok/s
- Gemma-4-31BQ6_K, est. 4.4 tok/s
- Qwen3-30B-A3BQ6_K, est. 31.4 tok/s
- Gemma-3-27BQ6_K, est. 5.0 tok/s
- Qwen3.6-27BQ6_K, est. 5.0 tok/s
Best quant that still fits at 8K context, largest model first. Full list on the Config page.
Bandwidth 170GB/s, usable memory 29GB of 32GB.