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Apple M3 Max 16-Core vs Apple M2 Pro 10-Core

Apple M3 Max 16-Core

► remove from comparison Apple Apple M3 Max 16-Core

The Apple M3 Max (16 Core) is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was launched towards the end of 2023. It integrates a new 16-core CPU with 12 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 4 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz. There is also a slimmed-down 14-core variant with a 30-core GPU.

Thanks to the higher clock rates and architectural improvements, the processor performance is also significantly better than the M2 Max in benchmarks and can keep up with the fastest mobile CPUs (such as a Core i9-13900HX).

The M3 also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the top model, all 40 cores of the chip are used and support up to 5 displays simultaneously (internal and 4 external).

GPU and CPU can jointly access the shared memory on the package (unified memory). This is available in 48, 64 and 128 GB variants and offers 400 GB/s maximum bandwidth (512 bit bus).

The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (compared to 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now also supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded. Like its predecessor, the Max chip offers two video engines and can therefore encode and decode two streams simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the integrated WLAN only continues to support WiFi 6E (no WiFi 7), unlike the small M3 SoC thunderbolt 4 is also supported (max 40 Gbit/s).

The chip is manufactured in the current 3nm process (N3B) at TSMC and contains 92 billion transistors (+37% vs. Apple M2 Max). Under load, the CPU part consumes up to 56 watts, the chip can use a total of 78 watts.

Apple M2 Pro 10-Core

► remove from comparison Apple M2 Pro 10-Core

The Apple M2 Pro 10-Core is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the early 2023 MacBook Pro 14 and Mac Mini entry level models. It offers 10 of the 12 cores available in the chip divided in six performance cores (P-cores) and four power-efficiency cores (E-cores). The E-cores clock with up to 3.4 GHz, the P-Cores up to 3.7 GHz (mostly 3.3 GHz in multi-threaded workloads and 3.4 GHz in single threaded).

The big cores (codename Avalanche) offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 36 MB shared L2 cache (up from 24 MB in the M1 Pro). The four efficiency cores (codename Blizzard) are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. CPU and GPU can both use the 24 MB SLC (System Level Cache). 

The unified memory (16 or 32 GB LPDDR5-6400) next to the chip is connected by a 256 Bit memory controller (200 GB/s bandwidth) and can be used by the GPU and CPU.

The performance of the M2 Pro 10-Core should be similar to the old M1 Pro with all 10 cores. The multi-threaded performance should be slower, as the M2 10-core has two p-cores less (and 2 e-cores more) but the single-threaded performance should be better due to the faster clock speed and architectural improvements. The old M1 Pro 8-core should be noticeably slower.

The integrated graphics card in the M1 Pro 10-core offers all 16 of the 19 cores.

Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine (faster than M1 Pro), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders (including ProRes).

The M2 Pro is manufactured in 5 nm at TSMC (second generation) and integrates 40 billion transistors. 

ModelApple M3 Max 16-CoreApple M2 Pro 10-Core
SeriesApple Apple M3Apple Apple M2
Series: Apple M2
Apple M3 Max 16-Core « 2.75 - 4.06 GHz16 / 16 cores
Apple M3 Max 14-Core compare2.75 - 4.06 GHz14 / 14 cores
Apple M3 Pro 12-Core compare2.75 - 4.06 GHz12 / 12 cores
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core compare2.75 - 4.06 GHz11 / 11 cores
Apple M3 compare2.75 - 4.06 GHz8 / 8 cores
Apple M2 Max compare2.42 - 3.7 GHz12 / 12 cores48 MB L3
Apple M2 Pro compare2.42 - 3.5 GHz12 / 12 cores24 MB L3
Apple M2 Pro 10-Core « 2.42 - 3.7 GHz10 / 10 cores24 MB L3
Apple M2 compare2.42 - 3.48 GHz8 / 8 cores8 MB L3
Clock2748 - 4056 MHz2424 - 3696 MHz
Cores / Threads16 / 16
12 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core
4 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core
10 / 10
TDP78 Watt
Transistors92000 Million40000 Million
Technology3 nm5 nm
FeaturesARMv8 Instruction SetARMv8 Instruction Set
iGPUApple M3 Max 40-Core GPUApple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU
ArchitectureARMARM
Announced
Manufacturerwww.apple.com
L1 Cache7.3 MB
L2 Cache36 MB
L3 Cache24 MB

Benchmarks

Cinebench 2024 - Cinebench 2024 CPU Single Core
min: 139     avg: 139.5     median: 139.5 (97%)     max: 140 Points
Cinebench 2024 - Cinebench 2024 CPU Multi Core
min: 1532     avg: 1572     median: 1572 (29%)     max: 1612 Points
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Multi Core
min: 24020     avg: 24022     median: 24022 (22%)     max: 24024 Points
11811 Points (11%)
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Single Core
min: 1950     avg: 1959     median: 1959 (83%)     max: 1968 Points
1643 Points (70%)
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Single Core)
min: 492     avg: 494.5     median: 494.5 (55%)     max: 497 Points
449 Points (50%)
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Multi Core)
min: 5920     avg: 6124     median: 6123.5 (15%)     max: 6327 Points
3235 Points (8%)
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
min: 3225     avg: 3297     median: 3264 (21%)     max: 3401 Points
1664 Points (11%)
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
min: 269     avg: 271     median: 271 (82%)     max: 273 Points
231 Points (70%)
Blender - Blender 3.3 Classroom CPU *
min: 194     avg: 195     median: 195 (2%)     max: 196 Seconds
435 Seconds (6%)
Blender - Blender 2.79 BMW27 CPU *
min: 215     avg: 216     median: 216 (2%)     max: 217 Seconds
415 Seconds (3%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Single-Core
min: 3096     avg: 3127     median: 3126.5 (84%)     max: 3157 Points
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Multi-Core
min: 21243     avg: 21254     median: 21253.5 (84%)     max: 21264 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Single-Core
min: 2318     avg: 2325     median: 2324.5 (98%)     max: 2331 Points
min: 1926     avg: 1937     median: 1936.5 (82%)     max: 1947 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
min: 22816     avg: 22938     median: 22937.5 (41%)     max: 23059 Points
min: 12074     avg: 12132     median: 12131.5 (22%)     max: 12189 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
min: 379.2     avg: 385.5     median: 385.5 (0%)     max: 391.7 ms
447.4 ms (1%)
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
min: 94770     avg: 96363     median: 96362.5 (85%)     max: 97955 Points
75471 Points (66%)
WebXPRT 4 - WebXPRT 4 Score
250 Points (72%)
WebXPRT 3 - WebXPRT 3 Score
min: 416     avg: 421     median: 421 (88%)     max: 426 Points
391 Points (81%)
CrossMark - CrossMark Overall
min: 2032     avg: 2042     median: 2041.5 (78%)     max: 2051 Points
1772 Points (68%)
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Consumption - external Monitor *
min: 91.8     avg: 92.3     median: 92.3 (17%)     max: 92.7 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption - external Monitor *
min: 3.81     avg: 5.2     median: 5.2 (3%)     max: 6.49 Watt
2.2 Watt (1%)
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption 150cd 1min *
min: 4.63     avg: 6.3     median: 6.3 (7%)     max: 7.91 Watt
5.2 Watt (6%)
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Efficiency - external Monitor
min: 35.1     avg: 35.9     median: 35.9 (27%)     max: 36.7 Points per Watt

Average Benchmarks Apple M3 Max 16-Core → 100% n=14

Average Benchmarks Apple M2 Pro 10-Core → 79% n=14

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)