Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 13900K or M3 Max: what's better?

Intel Core i9 13900K vs Apple M3 Max

82 out of 100
Intel Core i9 13900K
VS
83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
Intel Core i9 13900K
Apple M3 Max

We compared two CPUs: the 3.0 GHz Intel Core i9 13900K (desktop) with 24-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max (laptop) with 16-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 (3)

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
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and 13900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 13900K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Newer PCI Express version โ€“ 5.0
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
  • More powerful Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 14.1 vs 0.8 TFLOPS
  • Around 320 GB/s (357%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 2 months later
  • 10% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3227 vs 2939 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 13900K
vs
M3 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 13900K
124
M3 Max +15%
142
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 13900K +12%
1896
M3 Max
1698
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 673 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 8146 5133
Cinebench Scores (35th and 51st 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)
Core i9 13900K
2939
M3 Max +10%
3227
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 13900K
20498
M3 Max +3%
21167
File compression 1570 MB/sec 2190 MB/sec
Clang compilation 193.2 Klines/sec 198.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 477 pages/sec 557.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 560.7 Mpixels/sec 648.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 301.8 pages/sec 309.1 pages/sec
Background blur 75.8 images/sec 68.9 images/sec
Photo processing 162.5 images/sec 183.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 43.5 Mpixels/sec 30.6 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 683 & 678 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 13900K
4596
M3 Max +4%
4780
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 13900K +41%
58087
M3 Max
41211
Integer math 206.4 GOps/sec 91.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 150.5 GOps/sec 131.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 232M Primes/sec 573M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 86.9M Strings/sec 61.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 46.2 GBytes/sec 24.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 785.8 MBytes/sec 530.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 3101 Frames/sec 4332 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 46B Matrices/sec 24.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 12796 & 409 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 13900K +31%
529.69
M3 Max
403.83

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 15.2 PPW 30.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 164 PPW 378 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 464.7 PPW 735.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.24 PPW 7.21 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
Intel Core i9 13900K
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-11 (Nagambie)Cinebench 2026673 / 8146
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-05-09 (veshelya)Cinebench 2024133 / 941
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-23 (Rohit007)Cinebench 2024124 / 1906
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-09 (LieInMyEyes)Cinebench 2024126 / 1771
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-21 (Richh)Cinebench 2024122 / 1823
Add View all (13)
Apple M3 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin)Cinebench 2024142 / 1698
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1)Cinebench 2024141 / 1459
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 13900K and Apple M3 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released September 27, 2022 October 30, 2023
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Raptor Lake Apple M3
Model number i9-13900K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 7900X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU)
Intel CPU rating (#14th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 12
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.0 GHz 4.05 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.4 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 4
E-Threads 16 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.2 GHz 2.75 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4.3 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 24 16
Total Threads 32 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 30x 40x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 2MB (per core) 32MB (shared)
L3 Cache 36MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 92 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 56 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 253 W -
Socket LGA-1700 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Desktop CPU ranking (#21st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1650 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 256 5120
TMUs 16 320
ROPs 8 160
Execution Units 32 640
TGP 15 W 60 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 13900K
0.8 TFLOPS
M3 Max +1662%
14.1 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) compared to UHD Graphics 770

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-5600
- DDR4-3200		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 32
Max. Memory Bandwidth 89.6 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i9 13900K official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
238 (47.6%)
262 (52.4%)
Total votes: 500

Competitors

1. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (1)
2. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
3. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Ultra
4. Apple M3 Max vs Intel Core i9 14900K (10)
5. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra
6. Intel Core i9 13900K vs Apple M3 (1)
7. Intel Core i9 13900K vs Apple M3 Pro
8. Intel Core i9 13900K vs Apple M2 Pro (4)
9. Intel Core i9 13900K vs Apple M2 Ultra (12)
10. Intel Core i9 13900K vs Intel Core i7 14700K (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 Max or Intel Core i9 13900K?
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Dean March 22, 2024 at 03:52 PM
Interestingly, very few compare the raw power of Apple's M3 architecture for things like compression, data analysis, Music production, Video editing, compositing, and scientific data processing. I recently had to process a very complex map GIS file from ESRI to Illustrator. My Intel based server, with a core i9 13 series processor, 128 gigs of ram and striped SSD's took 37 minutes to convert the file to open in Illustrator. The M3 Pro took 7 minutes. That's a game changer - considering a desktop vs. a laptop.
+7 Reply
Avatar
Rakesh March 4, 2024 at 02:55 AM
I voted for the M3 Max because it comes with the MacBook Pro 16, which performs quite well in gaming, productivity, creativity, and basically anything you might want to do. The M3 Max will give you everything you expect, but it's not very cost-efficient.
+2 Reply
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jared March 15, 2025 at 09:53 AM
what about i9 13900k and rtx 4090? can m3 max beat that on all sides?
0 Reply
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