Home > CPU Comparison > M5 (10-Core) or Apple M3: what's better?

Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M3

81 out of 100
Apple M5 (10-Core)
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M3
Apple M5 (10-Core)
Apple M3

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 (10-Core) with 10-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 with 8-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
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.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M3 and (10-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 (10-Core)
  • Newer - released 2 years later
  • Around 51.2 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 42% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4276 vs 3009 points
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 32 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM
  • More powerful Apple M5 GPU (10-core) integrated graphics: 4.1 vs 3.5 TFLOPS

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 (10-Core)
vs
Apple M3

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M5 (10-Core) +49%
208
Apple M3
140
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M5 (10-Core) +66%
1183
Apple M3
712
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 4456 2341
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) +42%
4276
Apple M3
3009
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +51%
17862
Apple M3
11815
File compression 1790 MB/sec 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation 138 Klines/sec 94.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 427.3 pages/sec 264.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 430.7 Mpixels/sec 313.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 421.1 pages/sec 297 pages/sec
Background blur 78.7 images/sec 50.2 images/sec
Photo processing 156.2 images/sec 114.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 21.6 Mpixels/sec 12.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 438 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +22%
5762
Apple M3
4707
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M5 (10-Core) +40%
26779
Apple M3
19065
Integer math 56.9 GOps/sec 42.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 75.6 GOps/sec 48.3 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 301M Primes/sec 231M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.6M Strings/sec 27.3M Strings/sec
Data encryption 17.1 GBytes/sec 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 296.6 MBytes/sec 225 MBytes/sec
Physics 3199 Frames/sec 1867 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 15.1B Matrices/sec 10B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 507 & 1563 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M5 (10-Core) +72%
275.89
Apple M3
160.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 43.8 PPW 35.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 661.6 PPW 590.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 991.8 PPW 953.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 10.22 PPW 8.02 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
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-29 -> knotp37Cinebench 20260 / 3841
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-05 -> maheshkondrajuGeekbench 6 CPU4224 / 17165
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-27 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 CPU4289 / 18011
Add View all (3)
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)Geekbench 6 CPU2991 / 11735
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)Geekbench 6 CPU2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 (10-Core) and Apple M3

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 15, 2025 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M5 Apple M3
Model number T8142 -
Integrated GPU Apple M5 GPU (10-core) Apple M3 GPU
Rival Equivalent - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) -
Successor - - Apple M5 (10-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 4.05 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 4
E-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (E) 3.0 GHz 2.75 GHz
Total
Total Cores 10 8
Total Threads 10 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 46x 40x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 22MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 28 billions 25 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 27 W 20 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Die Size 157.48 mmΒ² -
Laptop processors ranking (21st and 69th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 GPU (10-core) Apple M3 GPU
GPU Base Clock - 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 1280 1280
TMUs 80 80
ROPs 40 40
Execution Units 160 160
TGP - 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
M5 (10-Core) +17%
4.1 TFLOPS
Apple M3
3.5 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 GPU (10-core) compared to M5 GPU (10-Core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 32 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 8 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
29 (64.4%)
16 (35.6%)
Total votes: 45

Competitors

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3. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Max (4)
4. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (16)
5. Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro
6. Apple M3 vs Apple M2
7. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M6 (12-Core) (2)
8. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
9. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
10. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M1 Pro
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 or M5 (10-Core)?
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