Home > CPU Comparisons > M1 Ultra or Ryzen Threadripper 3990X: what's better?

Apple M1 Ultra vs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X

Apple M1 Ultra
VS
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X
Apple M1 Ultra
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Ultra with 20-cores against the 2.9 GHz AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X with 64-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (2)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3990X and Ultra
Advantages of Apple M1 Ultra
  • Around 704.63 GB/s (739%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer - released 2-years and 2-months later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 7 nanometers
  • 39% faster in a single-core Geekbench v5 test - 1772 vs 1277 points
  • Includes an integrated GPU Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X
  • Has 44 more physical cores
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Supports up to 256 GB DDR4-3200 RAM

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Submit your Cinebench R23 result
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Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M1 Ultra and AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X

General

Vendor Apple AMD
Released March 8, 2022 January 10, 2020
Type Desktop Desktop
instruction set ARMv8 x86-64
Codename Apple M1 -
Model number APL1106/APL1W06 -
Integrated GPU Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) No

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 16 64
P-Threads 16 128
Base Frequency (P) 3.2 GHz 2.9 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) - 4.3 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.1 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 20 64
Total Threads 20 128
Bus Frequency - 100 MHz
Multiplier - 29x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 96K (per core)
L2 Cache 48MB (shared) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache - 128MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Transistors 114 billions 19.2 billions
Fabrication process 5 nm 7 nm
Socket Apple M-Socket sTRX4
TDP 60 W 280 W
Peak temperature - 95°C

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) -
GPU Base Clock 450 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1296 MHz -
Shading Units 8192 -
TMUs 512 -
ROPs 256 -
TGP 120 W -
Max. Resolution 6016x3384 - 60 Hz -
iGPU FLOPS

Memory Support

Memory types LPDDR5-6400 DDR4-3200
Memory Size 128 GB 256 GB
Max. Memory Channels 16 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 800 GB/s 95.37 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official site - AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X official page
PCI Express Version - 4.0
PCI Express Lanes - 64

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
97 (44.9%)
119 (55.1%)
Total votes: 216

Сompetitors

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3. Apple M1 Ultra or Intel Core i7 13700K
4. Apple M1 Ultra or Intel Core i9 12900H
5. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X or Apple M1 Max
6. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X or Intel Core i7 12700K
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X or Apple M1 Ultra?
Avatar
Mark J 29 September 2022 19:21
I just went comparison shopping. A fully loaded M1 Ultra has 64 cores and peaks at $8,000. That means this speed test needs a reevaluation. If you wanted to do 24 cores (still faster than these specs), it's $3,000 - a lot of bang for the buck in comparison. Compared to an $8400 AMD rig; It has a 3970 with fewer cores, going to get more expensive than the Mac with the 3990. The graphics card is a GPU Quadro RTX A4500 20Gb 4x DisplayPort - not sure how that compares at all. Again, the RAM and GPU on the Mac are not really comparable to PCs as far as I can tell -- it seems to use a lot less RAM for the M1 due to its architecture for the same process -- though, video buffer matters on AI and video games - not sure if anything is going to really max out the 64g shared memory. There are a lot more development apps for AI and tools for Unreal Engine and other specialized apps on Windows at the moment, but, I expect a lot of progress in Neural Net-related tech because it's standard on the Mac platform. There's also a lot of room for optimization. Apple wins hands down in bang for the buck for heavy-duty creative work, not sure about the video cards, and Windows still has an edge for developers.
+1 Reply
Avatar
A human 23 July 2022 18:19
The threadripper because I don’t care about having an interstates GPU, I would rather have the increased power.
+4 Reply
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