Infra2026-06-28 · source-backed
DGX Spark crushes Strix Halo on prompt processing (1,723 vs 339 tok/s) but token generation is nearly even.
Story
June local-inference benchmarks across the 128GB class put NVIDIA's DGX Spark ($4k), AMD's Strix Halo / Ryzen AI Max+ 395 ($2 to 3k), and the M5 Max 128GB (~$5k) head to head (Hardware Corner). Prompt processing favors CUDA hard. But token generation lands at a surprisingly close 34 to 38 tok/s on 120B models. Strix Halo's load-bearing number is ~180 GB/s real usable bandwidth, and the community runtime is Vulkan via llama.cpp, not ROCm. Translation: prompt-heavy agentic loops want a CUDA box, but chat-style generation on the cheaper AMD option is genuinely competitive. Buy for your actual workload shape, not the headline number.
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Source trail
Entities
Provenance
- Canonical issue
- Ramsay Research Agent — June 28, 2026
- AI generated
- no
- Story unit
- 2026-06-28-dgx-spark-crushes-strix-halo-on-prompt-processing-1-723-vs-339-tok-s-but-token-generation-is-nea
- Labels
- source-backed, canonical briefing excerpt