Home > CPU Comparison > M3 Max or M1 Ultra: what's better?

Apple M3 Max vs M1 Ultra

83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
VS
71 out of 100
Apple M1 Ultra
Apple M3 Max
Apple M1 Ultra

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max with 16-cores against the 3.2 GHz M1 Ultra with 20-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

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Ultra and Max
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 8 months later
  • 32% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3227 vs 2436 points
Advantages of Apple M1 Ultra
  • Around 409.6 GB/s (100%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) integrated graphics: 21.2 vs 14.1 TFLOPS
  • Has 4 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M3 Max
vs
M1 Ultra

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Max
142
M1 Ultra
n/a
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Max +4%
1698
M1 Ultra
1625
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5133 -
Cinebench Scores (#51st place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M3 Max +32%
3227
M1 Ultra
2436
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Max +14%
21167
M1 Ultra
18530
File compression 2190 MB/sec 2000 MB/sec
Clang compilation 198.5 Klines/sec 189 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 557.3 pages/sec 513.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 648.9 Mpixels/sec 548.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 309.1 pages/sec 250.5 pages/sec
Background blur 68.9 images/sec 42.3 images/sec
Photo processing 183.5 images/sec 151.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.6 Mpixels/sec 27.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 678 & 509 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Max +24%
4780
M1 Ultra
3860
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Max
41211
M1 Ultra
41392
Integer math 91.2 GOps/sec 92.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math 131.5 GOps/sec 130.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 573M Primes/sec 538M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 61.7M Strings/sec 66.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 24.7 GBytes/sec 24.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 530.4 MBytes/sec 556.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 4332 Frames/sec 5558 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 24.2B Matrices/sec 25.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 409 & 236 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Max
403.83
M1 Ultra +1%
406.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 30.3 PPW 23.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 378 PPW 264.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 735.9 PPW 591.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.21 PPW 5.81 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M3 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin)Cinebench 2024142 / 1698
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1)Cinebench 2024141 / 1459
Add View all (2)
Apple M1 Ultra
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Max and M1 Ultra

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2023 March 8, 2022
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M3 Apple M1
Model number - APL1106/APL1W06
Integrated GPU Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i9 12900K
Successor - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) - Apple M4 Ultra

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 12 16
P-Threads 12 16
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 16 20
Total Threads 16 20
Multiplier 40x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 48MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 92 billions 114 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 56 W 70 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 5120 8192
TMUs 320 512
ROPs 160 256
Execution Units 640 1024
TGP 60 W 120 W
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Max
14.1 TFLOPS
M1 Ultra +50%
21.2 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) compared to M3 Max GPU (40-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 32 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 819.2 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
76 (70.4%)
32 (29.6%)
Total votes: 108

Competitors

1. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M2 Max
2. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
3. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M4 Ultra
4. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra
5. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (1)
6. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
7. Apple M3 Max vs Intel Core i9 14900K (10)
8. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Ultra
9. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (14-Core)
10. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Ultra or M3 Max?
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