Intel Core i9 12900HK vs Apple M2 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i9 12900HK with 14-cores against the 3.5 GHz Apple M2 Max with 12-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
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and 12900HK
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900HK
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 2 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M2 Max
  • Newer - released 1-year and 1-month later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Supports up to 96 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
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Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench R23

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
1928
1609
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
18291
14678

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M2 Max +4%
2773
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M2 Max +25%
14768
File compression 584.3 MB/sec 1740 MB/sec
Clang compilation 135.7 Klines/sec 128.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 195 pages/sec 358.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 326.9 Mpixels/sec 385.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 285.3 pages/sec 262.5 pages/sec
Background blur 59.9 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Photo processing 73.3 images/sec 143 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.4 Mpixels/sec 17.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M2 Max +12%
4152
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
28151
26269
Integer math 97.9 GOps/sec 58.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 69 GOps/sec 74 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 115M Primes/sec 363M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 36.3M Strings/sec 41.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 19.2 GBytes/sec 15.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 323.1 MBytes/sec 338.3 MBytes/sec
Physics 1876 Frames/sec 3846 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 19.3B Matrices/sec 12.1B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4]

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900HK and Apple M2 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released January 4, 2022 January 17, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
instruction set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M2
Model number i9-12900HK -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 8
P-Threads 12 8
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 1.8 GHz 2.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.8 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 14 12
Total Threads 20 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 25x -
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 32MB (shared)
L3 Cache 24MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 67 billions
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 35-45 W (configurable) 30 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 115 W -
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
Peak temperature 100°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 768 4864
TMUs 48 304
ROPs 24 152
Execution Units 96 -
TGP 15 W 70 W
Max. Resolution - 7680x4320 - 60 Hz
iGPU FLOPS
1.69 TFLOPS
13.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
- LPDDR5-5200
- LPDDR4x-4267
- LPDDR5-6400
Memory Size 64 GB 96 GB
Max. Memory Channels 2 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth - 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official site Intel Core i9 12900HK official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 28 -

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Max or Intel Core i9 12900HK?
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