Home > CPU Comparison > M5 Ultra (36-Core) or Ryzen Threadripper 3960X: what's better?

Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) vs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

100 out of 100
Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)
VS
59 out of 100
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X
Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) with 36-cores against the 3.8 GHz AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X with 24-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
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3960X and (36-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)
  • Newer - released 6 years and 10 months later
  • Around 1126.4 GB/s (1100%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 2.8x faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4331 vs 1523 points
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 7 nanometers
  • Supports up to 512 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM
  • Has 12 more physical cores
  • Includes an integrated GPU Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X
  • Unlocked multiplier

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 Ultra (36-Core)
vs
Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#1st 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 - 824.2 MB/sec
Clang compilation - 168.6 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser - 236.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer - 164.3 Mpixels/sec
Text processing - 130.7 pages/sec
Background blur - 38.4 images/sec
Photo processing - 80.1 images/sec
Ray tracing - 38 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math - 198.9 GOps/sec
Floating point math - 116.7 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers - 416M Primes/sec
Random string sorting - 94.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption - 57.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression - 894.8 MBytes/sec
Physics - 3307 Frames/sec
Extended instructions - 57.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3] – 1307 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 - 6.9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt - 40.4 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt - 195.6 PPW
Blender / Watt - 1.95 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) and AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

General

Vendor Apple Amd
Released August 25, 2026 November 25, 2019
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set ARMv9 x86-64
Codename Apple M5 -
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) No
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#69th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 24 24
P-Threads 24 48
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 3.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) - 4.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 12 -
E-Threads 12 -
Base Frequency (E) 4.38 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 36 24
Total Threads 36 48
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 46x 38x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache - 512K (per core)
L3 Cache - 128MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Transistors - 15.2 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) - 280 W
Socket Apple M-Socket sTRX4
Peak Temperature 100°C 95°C
Desktop CPU ranking (1st and 80th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) -
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz -
Shading Units 10240 -
TMUs 640 -
ROPs 320 -
Execution Units 1280 -
iGPU FLOPS
See: Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 512 GB 256 GB
Memory Channels 64 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 1228.8 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site - AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X official page
PCI Express Version - 4.0
PCI Express Lanes - 64

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Competitors

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4. Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) vs Apple M6 (12-Core)
5. Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2
6. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
7. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X vs AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
8. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
9. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X vs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
10. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X vs AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X or Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)?
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