Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics vs Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU vs Apple M2 Pro 19-Core GPU

Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics

The Intel Iris Xe MAX (DG1 Low Power - LP or iDG1LPDEV) is a dedicated PCIe 4.0 mobile entry-level graphics card with 96 execution units (EUs) based on the Gen 12 architecture. Compared to the integrated Intel Iris Xe in the Tiger Lake CPUs, the Xe MAX offers 4 GB dedicated LPDDR4x graphics memory (68 GB/s versus 56 GB/s for the MX350) and higher clock speeds of 1.65 GHz (vs. 1.35 GHz). Both support DP4A DLBoost instructions to speed up AI tasks and two media engines (including AV1 decoding in hardware). Currently the GPU is only available for Tiger Lake based laptops and offers some possibilities to use the iGPU and dGPU together (using the Deep Link software framework). The GPU uses hybrid graphics to turn off the Xe MAX when not in used (display ports are routed through the iGPU, but the Xe MAX features four dedicated display ports in comparison to the Nvidia GeForce MX350).

Furthermore, Intel supports to shift TDP between the two chips for better CPU performance or balancing graphics workloads.

The gaming performance is on average slightly better than a fast Intel Iris Xe iGPU with plenty of TDP and cooling headroom. There are even some games where the iGPU is faster thanks to Deep Link sharing power and cooling. Intel targets 1080p gaming with low to medium settings with the GPU and provided examples where the MAX is on par or better than a dedicated Nvidia GeForce MX350. 

According to Intel, the GPU is mostly aimed at content creators that can make use of the additional compute units, AI (DP4a) acceleration or media encoders.

As the Iris Xe Graphics, the Xe MAX supports Variable Rate Shading, Adaptive Sync, Async Compute, DirectX 12.1, OpenGL 4.6 and OpenCL 2.

As the Tiger Lake CPUs, the Iris Xe MAX dGPU is manufactured in the modern 10nm SuperFin process at Intel. Intel aims the Max-GPU for laptops with a combined power budget of 35 Watt and up. The power consumption of the GPU alone is specified similar to the 25W of the GeForce MX350 (we guess including the graphics memory).

Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU

The Apple M2 Pro 16-Core-GPU is an integrated graphics card by Apple offering all 16 of the 19 cores in the M2 Pro 10-Core Chip.

The graphics card has no dedicated graphics memory but can use the fast LPDDR5-6400 unified memory with a 256 bit bus (up to 200 GBit/s).

According to Apple, the performance of the 19-core-GPU should be 30% higher than the old 16-core-GPU in the M1 Pro. Therefore, the cut down 16-core version should still beat the old full-featured 16-core M1 Pro slightly and the old 14-core more clearly.

The GPU is intended to use Apple Metal 2 API and could still be based on the older PowerVR architectures (last used in the Apple A10). A new feature in the MacBook Pro 14 of 2023 is the support for HDMI 2.1 and 8k output.

The Apple M2 Pro is manufactured in the second generation 5nm process at TSMC.

Apple M2 Pro 19-Core GPU

The Apple M2 Pro 19-Core-GPU is an integrated graphics card by Apple offering all 19 cores in the M2 Pro Chip.

The graphics card has no dedicated graphics memory but can use the fast LPDDR5-6400 unified memory with a 256 bit bus (up to 200 GBit/s). The GPU clocks from 444 MHz to 1398 MHz and was maintaining the 1398 MHz in games.

According to Apple, the performance should be 30% higher than the old 16-core-GPU in the M1 Pro.

The GPU is intended to use Apple Metal 2 API and could still be based on the older PowerVR architectures (last used in the Apple A10). A new feature in the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 of 2023 is the support for HDMI 2.1 and 8k output.

The Apple M2 Pro is manufactured in the second generation 5nm process at TSMC. The power consumption of the GPU part in the M2 Pro is slightly below 20 Watt in games (Borderlands 3 measured with powermetrics).