Home > CPU Comparison > M5 (10-Core) or M1 Max: what's better?

Apple M5 (10-Core) vs M1 Max

81 out of 100
Apple M5 (10-Core)
VS
61 out of 100
Apple M1 Max
Apple M5 (10-Core)
Apple M1 Max

We compared two 10-core laptop CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 (10-Core) against the 3.2 GHz M1 Max. 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.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and (10-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 (10-Core)
  • Newer - released 4 years later
  • 76% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4276 vs 2431 points
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 5 nanometers
Advantages of Apple M1 Max
  • Around 256 GB/s (167%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) integrated graphics: 10.6 vs 4.1 TFLOPS
  • Supports up to 64 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 (10-Core)
vs
M1 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M5 (10-Core) +87%
208
M1 Max
111
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M5 (10-Core) +50%
1183
M1 Max
789
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 4456 -
Cinebench Scores (#113th 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)
M5 (10-Core) +76%
4276
M1 Max
2431
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +41%
17862
M1 Max
12673
File compression 1790 MB/sec 1450 MB/sec
Clang compilation 138 Klines/sec 105.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 427.3 pages/sec 329.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 430.7 Mpixels/sec 317 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 421.1 pages/sec 249.6 pages/sec
Background blur 78.7 images/sec 42.2 images/sec
Photo processing 156.2 images/sec 122.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 21.6 Mpixels/sec 14.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 447 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +50%
5762
M1 Max
3831
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +21%
26779
M1 Max
22162
Integer math 56.9 GOps/sec 46.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 75.6 GOps/sec 64.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 301M Primes/sec 278M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.6M Strings/sec 32.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 17.1 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 296.6 MBytes/sec 274.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 3199 Frames/sec 2833 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 15.1B Matrices/sec 12.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 507 & 2398 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M5 (10-Core) +38%
275.89
M1 Max
199.2

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 43.8 PPW 15.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 661.6 PPW 253.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 991.8 PPW 443.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 10.22 PPW 3.98 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 (10-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-29 -> knotp37Cinebench 20260 / 3841
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-05 -> maheshkondrajuGeekbench 6 CPU4224 / 17165
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-27 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 CPU4289 / 18011
Add View all (3)
Apple M1 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-04 (Daniel)Geekbench 6 CPU2459 / 13052
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 (10-Core) and M1 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 15, 2025 October 18, 2021
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M5 Apple M1
Model number T8142 -
Integrated GPU Apple M5 GPU (10-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
Rival Equivalent - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) -
Successor - - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 8
P-Threads 4 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 2
E-Threads 6 2
Base Frequency (E) 3.0 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 10 10
Total Threads 10 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 46x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 22MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 28 billions 57 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 27 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC -
Die Size 157.48 mmยฒ -
Laptop processors ranking (21st and 95th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 GPU (10-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock - 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 1280 4096
TMUs 80 256
ROPs 40 128
Execution Units 160 512
iGPU FLOPS
M5 (10-Core)
4.1 TFLOPS
M1 Max +159%
10.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) compared to M5 GPU (10-Core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 32 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 8 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
54 (65.1%)
29 (34.9%)
Total votes: 83

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6. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M3 (4)
7. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
8. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or M5 (10-Core)?
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