Apple M4 Max (16-Core) vs M3 Ultra
93
out of 100
VS
94
out of 100
We compared two CPUs: the 4.51 GHz Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (laptop) with 16-cores against the 4.05 GHz M3 Ultra (desktop) with 32-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.
Review
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
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Value for money (Beta)
Key Differences
Advantages of Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
- 22% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3986 vs 3266 points
Advantages of Apple M3 Ultra
- Supports up to 512 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
- Has 16 more physical cores
- More powerful Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) integrated graphics: 28.3 vs 16.2 TFLOPS
- Around 273.3 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
- Newer - released 5 months later
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
| Cinebench 2026 (Multi) | 6324 | 11987 |
Cinebench Scores (23rd and 2nd place)
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 2680 MB/sec | 2690 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 219.7 Klines/sec | 319.2 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 699.3 pages/sec | 819.6 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 771.1 Mpixels/sec | 701.5 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 381.1 pages/sec | 327.5 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 92.2 images/sec | 63.2 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 236.2 images/sec | 190.9 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 36.1 Mpixels/sec | 61.5 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 98.9 GOps/sec | 181.6 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 101.4 GOps/sec | 183.5 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 627M Primes/sec | 1063M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 64.5M Strings/sec | 123.1M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 27 GBytes/sec | 49.4 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 572.9 MBytes/sec | 1076.9 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 6614 Frames/sec | 8863 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 30.3B Matrices/sec | 55.1B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 29.2 PPW | 21.4 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 374.1 PPW | 212.5 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 627.2 PPW | 520.4 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 6.79 PPW | 5.13 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2025-07-20 (Rahul) | Cinebench 2024 | 177 / 1954 |
| ๐ 2025-07-10 (thomas) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 4094 / 26275 |
| ๐ 2025-04-02 (BigJake) | Cinebench 2024 | 178 / 2001 |
| ๐ 2025-02-17 (MM) | Cinebench 2024 | 173 / 1928 |
| ๐ 2024-11-12 (Jason C) | Cinebench 2024 | 177 / 2004 |
Apple M3 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2025-08-13 (Losito) | Cinebench 2024 | 93 / 2422 |
| ๐ 2025-03-17 (Luigi9212) | Cinebench 2024 | 148 / 2818 |
| ๐ 2025-03-16 (Tyler) | Cinebench 2024 | 133 / 2753 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Apple M4 Max (16-Core) and M3 UltraGeneral
| Vendor | Apple | Apple |
| Released | October 30, 2024 | March 5, 2025 |
| Type | Laptop | Desktop |
| Instruction Set | ARMv9 | ARMv8 |
| Codename | Apple M4 | Apple M3 |
| Model number | T6041 | - |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M4 Max GPU (40-core) | Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) |
| Successor | - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) | - |
CPU
| P-Cores | 12 | 24 |
| P-Threads | 12 | 24 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 4.51 GHz | 4.05 GHz |
| E-Cores | 4 | 8 |
| E-Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Base Frequency (E) | 2.59 GHz | 2.75 GHz |
| Total Cores | 16 | 32 |
| Total Threads | 16 | 32 |
| Bus Frequency | 100 MHz | 100 MHz |
| Multiplier | 45x | 40x |
| L1 Cache | 192K (per core) | 192K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 32MB (shared) | 64MB (shared) |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | No |
Package
| Transistors | - | 184 billions |
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| TDP (PL1) | 70 W | 140 W |
| Socket | Apple M-Socket | Apple M-Socket |
| Peak Temperature | 100ยฐC | 100ยฐC |
Laptop processors ranking (#6th place)
Desktop CPU ranking (#4th place)
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Apple M4 Max GPU (40-core) | Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) |
| GPU Base Clock | 500 MHz | - |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1578 MHz | 1380 MHz |
| Shading Units | 5120 | 10240 |
| TMUs | 320 | 640 |
| ROPs | 160 | 320 |
| Execution Units | 640 | 1280 |
| TGP | 50 W | 140 W |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory Support
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5X-8533 | - LPDDR5-6400 |
| Max. Memory Size | 128 GB | 512 GB |
| Memory Channels | 32 | 64 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 546 GB/s | 819.3 GB/s |
| ECC Support | No | No |
Misc
Cast your vote
Total votes: 178