Home > CPU Comparisons > Core i9 11900K or M1 Max: what's better?

Intel Core i9 11900K vs Apple M1 Max

Intel Core i9 11900K
VS
Apple M1 Max
Intel Core i9 11900K
Apple M1 Max

We compared two CPUs: the 3.5 GHz Intel Core i9 11900K (desktop) with 8-cores against the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Max (laptop) with 10-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 (4)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and 11900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 11900K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
Advantages of Apple M1 Max
  • Around 359.6 GB/s (719%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 14 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1-year and 2-months later
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Core i9 11900K +6%
1651
M1 Max
1555
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 11900K +22%
15296
M1 Max
12522
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 11900K
3552
M1 Max +9%
3864
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 11900K +15%
25735
M1 Max
22366
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Core i9 11900K +2%
1835
M1 Max
1798
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 11900K
11141
M1 Max +14%
12702
Submit your Cinebench R23 result
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Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 11900K and Apple M1 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released March 16, 2021 May 7, 2022
Type Desktop Laptop
instruction set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Rocket Lake Apple M1
Model number i9-11900K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 750 Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 16 8
Base Frequency (P) 3.5 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.3 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores - 2
E-Threads - 2
Base Frequency (E) - 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 10
Total Threads 16 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 35x -
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 24MB (shared)
L3 Cache 16MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 57 billions
Fabrication process 14 nm 5 nm
Socket LGA-1200 Apple M-Socket
TDP 125 W 30 W
Peak temperature 100°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 750 Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1300 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 256 4096
TMUs 64 256
ROPs 32 128
Execution Units 32 -
TGP 15 W 60 W
Max. Resolution 3840x2160 - 60 Hz 6016x3384 - 60 Hz
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 11900K
0.46 TFLOPS
M1 Max
10.4 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory types DDR4-3200 LPDDR5-6400
Memory Size 128 GB 64 GB
Max. Memory Channels 2 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 50 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official site Intel Core i9 11900K official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
272 (22.9%)
916 (77.1%)
Total votes: 1188

Сompetitors

1. Core i5 12600K vs Core i9 11900K
2. Core i7 11700K vs Core i9 11900K
3. Core i9 10850K vs Core i9 11900K
4. Ryzen 9 5950X vs M1 Max
5. Core i7 12700K vs M1 Max
6. Core i7 13700K vs M1 Max
7. Core i9 12900H vs M1 Max
8. Core i7 11850H vs M1 Max
Compare other CPUs (480+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or Intel Core i9 11900K?
Avatar
Smack0r 26 December 2021 20:12
It's unbelievable how Apple's first attempt at producing their own mobile processor turns out so well that they even beat out desktop processors. Unbelievable. Can't deny that whenever they do something, they do it right. The caveat, though, of that unified system is that nothing can be upgraded, ever. And if one component dies, the whole system dies. However, I have to give apple the credit that this is only a theoretical problem. I'm writing this on a Late 2013 MBP that still works like a charm after 8 years.
+7 Reply
Avatar
Metal--Sabaton 25 September 2022 12:11
Not to mention apple processors aren't and never will be overclockable. compare these 2 CPUs again with the Intel set to boost and things would change pretty quickly. I will give it to apple, their hardware is much more efficient, but it's the software that ruins the hardware. Windows is getting bad enough with 10 and 11, but Mac OS's lack of support for 3rd party applications, and massive lack of a gaming platform with processors that fast makes Windows 11 look like the holy grail.
0 Reply
Avatar
37S 10 November 2021 22:20
Try i9 12900k. Intel wipes the floor. Only their battery efficiency is poor.
0 Reply
Avatar
Lazy guy 04 November 2021 04:44
That graphic performance of apple soc is amazing, and power consumption for that performance is outstanding, cpu alone performance is great too it is on pair with desktop hi end Intel cpu, but in is not desktop cpu at all! It is a laptop cpu! No other laptop processors can do same performance! Only one minus is that it is not for sale alone without MacBook.
+10 Reply
Avatar
Fa fa 25 October 2021 09:53
I think I will use M1 Max
+8 Reply
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