Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) vs M1 Ultra

We compared two CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core) (desktop) with 36-cores against the 3.2 GHz M1 Ultra (laptop) with 20-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

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
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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Key Differences

What are the key differences between Ultra and (36-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)
  • Newer - released 4 years and 7 months later
  • Supports up to 512 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM
  • Has 16 more physical cores
  • 78% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4331 vs 2436 points
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • More powerful Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) integrated graphics: 33.2 vs 21.2 TFLOPS
  • Around 409.6 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
3705
1625

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
4331
2436
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
38806
18530
File compression - 2000 MB/sec
Clang compilation - 189 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser - 513.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer - 548.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing - 250.5 pages/sec
Background blur - 42.3 images/sec
Photo processing - 151.4 images/sec
Ray tracing - 27.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 509 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math - 92.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math - 130.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers - 538M Primes/sec
Random string sorting - 66.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption - 24.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression - 556.6 MBytes/sec
Physics - 5558 Frames/sec
Extended instructions - 25.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3] – 236 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 - 23.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt - 264.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt - 591.3 PPW
Blender / Watt - 5.81 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 M1 Ultra

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released August 25, 2026 March 8, 2022
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M5 Apple M1
Model number - APL1106/APL1W06
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i9 12900K
Successor - - Apple M5 Ultra (36-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 24 16
P-Threads 24 16
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 12 4
E-Threads 12 4
Base Frequency (E) 4.38 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 36 20
Total Threads 36 20
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 46x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache - 48MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 114 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) - 70 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C -
Desktop CPU ranking (#1st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Ultra GPU (80-core) Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 10240 8192
TMUs 640 512
ROPs 320 256
Execution Units 1280 1024
TGP - 120 W
iGPU FLOPS
33.2 TFLOPS
21.2 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 512 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 64 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 1228.8 GB/s 819.2 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Ultra or M5 Ultra (36-Core)?
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