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Apple M3 Pro vs M1 Ultra

73 out of 100
Apple M3 Pro
VS
71 out of 100
Apple M1 Ultra
Apple M3 Pro
Apple M1 Ultra

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Pro with 12-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.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Ultra and Pro
Advantages of Apple M3 Pro
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 8 months later
  • 30% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3163 vs 2436 points
Advantages of Apple M1 Ultra
  • Around 665.6 GB/s (433%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • More powerful Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) integrated graphics: 21.2 vs 6.4 TFLOPS
  • Has 8 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

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

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Pro
143
M1 Ultra
n/a
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Pro
1059
M1 Ultra +53%
1625
Cinebench Scores (#141st 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 Pro +30%
3163
M1 Ultra
2436
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Pro
15512
M1 Ultra +19%
18530
File compression 1560 MB/sec 2000 MB/sec
Clang compilation 132.6 Klines/sec 189 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 382.9 pages/sec 513.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 393.2 Mpixels/sec 548.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 301 pages/sec 250.5 pages/sec
Background blur 61.4 images/sec 42.3 images/sec
Photo processing 144.1 images/sec 151.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 19.7 Mpixels/sec 27.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 991 & 509 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Pro +10%
4247
M1 Ultra
3860
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Pro
24046
M1 Ultra +72%
41392
Integer math 55.9 GOps/sec 92.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math 64.8 GOps/sec 130.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 240M Primes/sec 538M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.2M Strings/sec 66.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 14.4 GBytes/sec 24.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 288.5 MBytes/sec 556.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 2060 Frames/sec 5558 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 14.1B Matrices/sec 25.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1204 & 236 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Pro
228.7
M1 Ultra +78%
406.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 35.3 PPW 23.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 517.1 PPW 264.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 801.5 PPW 591.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.62 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 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-25 (Kirich)Geekbench 6 CPU3198 / 14601
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-25 (Kirich)Cinebench 2024150 / 946
Add View all (2)
Apple M1 Ultra
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Pro 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 Pro GPU (18-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i9 12900K
Successor - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) - Apple M4 Ultra

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 16
P-Threads 6 16
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 4
E-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 20
Total Threads 12 20
Multiplier 40x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 48MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 37 billions 114 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 30 W 70 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 2304 8192
TMUs 144 512
ROPs 72 256
Execution Units 288 1024
TGP 30 W 120 W
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Pro
6.4 TFLOPS
M1 Ultra +231%
21.2 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) compared to M3 Pro GPU (18-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 36 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 12 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 819.2 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
15 (51.7%)
14 (48.3%)
Total votes: 29

Competitors

1. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M1 Max
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4. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M1 Pro (10)
5. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M2 Pro
6. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
7. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
8. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M3
9. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
10. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M2 Max
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

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