Home > CPU Comparison > M5 Max (40-сore GPU) or Ryzen 9 9950X: what's better?

Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU) vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

98 out of 100
Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
VS
89 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

We compared two CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU) (laptop) with 18-cores against the 4.3 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (desktop) with 16-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
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
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Value for money (Beta)

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Currency
VS

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 9950X and GPU)
Advantages of Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
  • Around 524.8 GB/s (586%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer - released 1 year and 9 months later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 4 nanometers
  • 28% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4358 vs 3418 points
  • Has 2 more physical cores
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
vs
Ryzen 9 9950X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 724
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 8487 7630
Cinebench Scores (5th and 10th 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)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 2990 MB/sec 1710 MB/sec
Clang compilation 271.1 Klines/sec 226 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 811.7 pages/sec 391.9 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 764 Mpixels/sec 586.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 457.1 pages/sec 351.6 pages/sec
Background blur 106.1 images/sec 84.3 images/sec
Photo processing 303.8 images/sec 144.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 47.8 Mpixels/sec 55.7 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 132.6 GOps/sec 241.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 186.1 GOps/sec 158.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 553M Primes/sec 343M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 84.9M Strings/sec 93.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 44.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 689.6 MBytes/sec 891.3 MBytes/sec
Physics 6847 Frames/sec 3254 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.4B Matrices/sec 71.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 125 & 6583 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 24.6 PPW 13.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 302 PPW 128 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 574.7 PPW 386.6 PPW
Blender / Watt 5.76 PPW 3.52 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 M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-03 -> Apple loverGeekbench 6 CPU4365 / 30166
📘 2026-07-03 -> Apple loverCinebench 2026734 / 9428
Add View all (2)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-05 (greenmonalisa)Cinebench 2024136 / 2307
📘 2026-06-25 (Malanore)Cinebench 2026724 / 7630
📘 2026-04-20 -> TukiGeekbench 6 CPU3607 / 23374
📘 2026-02-07 (jimmygeneris)Cinebench 2024136 / 2114
📘 2026-01-01 (Capt Jack Swallows)Cinebench 2024136 / 2162
Add View all (34)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

General

Vendor Apple Amd
Released March 3, 2026 June 3, 2024
Type Laptop Desktop
Instruction Set ARMv9 x86-64
Codename Apple M5 Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)
Model number T6051 9950X
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) Radeon Graphics
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i9 14900K

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 18 16
P-Threads 18 32
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 4.3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) - 5.7 GHz
Total
Total Cores 18 16
Total Threads 18 32
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 46x 43x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 1MB (per core)
L3 Cache - 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Transistors 28 billions -
Fabrication Process 3 nm 4 nm
TDP (PL1) 100 W 170 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 230 W
Socket Apple M-Socket AM5
Peak Temperature 100°C 95°C
Die Size 166.85 mm² -
Desktop CPU ranking (#6th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) Radeon Graphics
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 2200 MHz
Shading Units 5120 -
TMUs 320 -
ROPs 160 -
Execution Units 640 -
iGPU FLOPS
See: Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - DDR5-5600
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 32 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 614.4 GB/s 89.6 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site - AMD Ryzen 9 9950X official page
PCI Express Version - 5.0
PCI Express Lanes - 28

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (57.1%)
3 (42.9%)
Total votes: 7

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X or Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)?
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