Four Mac Studios Combined to Form an AI Cluster: 1.5TB Memory, Hardware Cost Nearly $42,000
Published:Dec 25, 2025 09:49
•1 min read
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Analysis
This article reports on an engineer's successful attempt to create an AI cluster by combining four M3 Ultra Mac Studios. The key to this achievement is the RDMA over Thunderbolt 5 feature introduced in macOS 26.2, which allows direct memory access between Macs without CPU intervention. This approach offers a potentially cost-effective alternative to traditional high-performance computing solutions for certain AI workloads. The article highlights the innovative use of consumer-grade hardware and software to achieve significant computational power. However, it lacks details on the specific AI tasks the cluster is designed for and its performance compared to other solutions. Further information on the practical applications and scalability of this setup would be beneficial.
Key Takeaways
- •macOS 26.2 introduces RDMA over Thunderbolt 5 for direct memory access.
- •Four M3 Ultra Mac Studios can be combined into a 1.5TB memory AI cluster.
- •This setup offers a potentially cost-effective alternative to traditional HPC solutions.
Reference
“The key to this cluster's success is the RDMA over Thunderbolt 5 feature introduced in macOS 26.2, which allows one Mac to directly read the memory of another without CPU intervention.”