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Apple M3 Pro 12-Core vs Apple M3 Pro 11-Core vs Apple M3 Max 14-Core

Apple M3 Pro 12-Core

► remove from comparison Apple Apple M3 Pro 12-Core

The Apple M3 Pro (12 Core) is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was launched in late 2023. It integrates a new 12-core CPU with 6 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 6 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz. There is also a slimmed-down 11-core variant with a 14-core GPU.

Compared to the M2 Pro the M3 Pro has been slimmed down somewhat and swaps two performance cores for efficiency cores. This is due to the changed core configuration, as 6 cores are now used per cluster (the M2 Pro and M3 still have 4 cores per cluster). Furthermore, the memory bus has been reduced from 256 bits to 192 bits (150 GB/s vs. 200 GB/s). However, thanks to the new architecture and higher clock rates, the new M3 Pro is still slightly faster.

The M3 Pro also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the top model, all 18 cores of the chip are used and support up to 3 displays simultaneously (internal and 2 external).

GPU and CPU can jointly access the shared memory on the package (unified memory). This is available in 18 or 36 GB variants and offers 150 GB/s maximum bandwidth (192 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.

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 37 billion transistors (-7.5% vs. Apple M2 Pro).

Apple M3 Pro 11-Core

► remove from comparison Apple Apple M3 Pro 11-Core

The Apple M3 Pro 11 Core is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced late 2023. It integrates 11 of the 12 CPU cores with 5 of 6 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 6 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz.

Compared to the M2 Pro the M3 Pro has been slimmed down somewhat and swaps two performance cores for efficiency cores. This is due to the changed core configuration, as 6 cores are now used per cluster (the M2 Pro and M3 still have 4 cores per cluster). Furthermore, the memory bus has been reduced from 256 bits to 192 bits (150 GB/s vs. 200 GB/s). Thanks to the new architecture and higher clock rates, the new M3 Pro is still slightly faster.

The M3 Pro also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the entry-level model, only 14 of the chip's 18 cores are used and support up to 3 displays simultaneously (internal and 2 external).

GPU and CPU can jointly access the shared memory on the package (unified memory). This is available in 18 or 36 GB variants and offers 150 GB/s maximum bandwidth (192 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.

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 37 billion transistors (-7.5% vs. Apple M2 Pro).

Apple M3 Max 14-Core

► remove from comparison Apple Apple M3 Max 14-Core

The Apple M3 Max 14 core CPU is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced towards the end of 2023. It integrates a new 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 4 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz. There is also a more powerful 16-core variant with 40 GPU cores.

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.

The M3 also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the cheaper model, 30 of the chip's 40 cores 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 36 and 96 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).

ModelApple M3 Pro 12-CoreApple M3 Pro 11-CoreApple M3 Max 14-Core
SeriesApple Apple M3Apple Apple M3Apple Apple M3
Series: Apple M3
Apple M3 Max 16-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz16 / 16 cores
Apple M3 Max 14-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz14 / 14 cores
Apple M3 Pro 12-Core « 2.75 - 4.06 GHz12 / 12 cores
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz11 / 11 cores
Apple M32.75 - 4.06 GHz8 / 8 cores
Apple M3 Max 16-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz16 / 16 cores
Apple M3 Max 14-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz14 / 14 cores
Apple M3 Pro 12-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz12 / 12 cores
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core « 2.75 - 4.06 GHz11 / 11 cores
Apple M32.75 - 4.06 GHz8 / 8 cores
Apple M3 Max 16-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz16 / 16 cores
Apple M3 Max 14-Core « 2.75 - 4.06 GHz14 / 14 cores
Apple M3 Pro 12-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz12 / 12 cores
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core2.75 - 4.06 GHz11 / 11 cores
Apple M32.75 - 4.06 GHz8 / 8 cores
Clock2748 - 4056 MHz2748 - 4056 MHz2748 - 4056 MHz
Cores / Threads12 / 12
6 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core
6 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core
11 / 11
5 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core
6 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core
14 / 14
10 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core
4 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core
TDP27 Watt27 Watt78 Watt
Transistors37000 Million37000 Million92000 Million
Technology3 nm3 nm3 nm
FeaturesARMv8 Instruction SetARMv8 Instruction SetARMv8 Instruction Set
iGPUApple M3 Pro 18-Core GPUApple M3 Pro 14-Core GPUApple M3 Max 30-Core GPU
ArchitectureARMARMARM
Announced
Manufacturerwww.apple.comwww.apple.comwww.apple.com

Benchmarks

Cinebench 2024 - Cinebench 2024 CPU Single Core
143 Points (99%)
144 Points (100%)
Cinebench 2024 - Cinebench 2024 CPU Multi Core
1059 Points (20%)
908 Points (17%)
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Multi Core
15106 Points (14%)
13315 Points (12%)
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Single Core
1977 Points (84%)
1942 Points (83%)
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Single Core)
502 Points (56%)
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Multi Core)
3529 Points (9%)
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
2163 Points (14%)
1913 Points (12%)
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
281 Points (85%)
Blender - Blender 3.3 Classroom CPU *
314 Seconds (4%)
355 Seconds (5%)
Blender - Blender 2.79 BMW27 CPU *
327 Seconds (2%)
365 Seconds (3%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Single-Core
3138 Points (84%)
3113 Points (84%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Multi-Core
15480 Points (61%)
14412 Points (57%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Single-Core
2327 Points (98%)
2331 Points (98%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
15298 Points (27%)
13312 Points (24%)
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
376.2 ms (0%)
374.1 ms (0%)
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
96501 Points (85%)
98732 Points (87%)
WebXPRT 3 - WebXPRT 3 Score
427 Points (89%)
431 Points (90%)
CrossMark - CrossMark Overall
1977 Points (76%)
1966 Points (75%)
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Consumption - external Monitor *
47.9 Watt (9%)
40.1 Watt (7%)
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption - external Monitor *
5.8 Watt (4%)
2.1 Watt (1%)
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption 150cd 1min *
7.5 Watt (8%)
4.8 Watt (5%)
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Efficiency - external Monitor
45.2 Points per Watt (34%)
47.7 Points per Watt (36%)

Average Benchmarks Apple M3 Pro 12-Core → 0% n=

Average Benchmarks Apple M3 Pro 11-Core → 0% n=

- 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)