Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 13980HX or M3 Max: what's better?

Intel Core i9 13980HX vs Apple M3 Max

71 out of 100
Intel Core i9 13980HX
VS
83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
Intel Core i9 13980HX
Apple M3 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.2 GHz Intel Core i9 13980HX with 24-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max 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
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 Max and 13980HX
Advantages of Intel Core i9 13980HX
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Newer PCI Express version – 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 – 3 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 10 months later
  • 17% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3227 vs 2760 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 13980HX
vs
M3 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 13980HX
129
M3 Max +10%
142
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 13980HX +19%
2014
M3 Max
1698
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 5133
Cinebench Scores (25th 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 13980HX
2760
M3 Max +17%
3227
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 13980HX
17336
M3 Max +22%
21167
File compression 1400 MB/sec 2190 MB/sec
Clang compilation 161.1 Klines/sec 198.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 432.8 pages/sec 557.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 469.4 Mpixels/sec 648.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 277 pages/sec 309.1 pages/sec
Background blur 53.3 images/sec 68.9 images/sec
Photo processing 136.1 images/sec 183.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 36.2 Mpixels/sec 30.6 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 434 & 678 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 13980HX
4209
M3 Max +14%
4780
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 13980HX +10%
45338
M3 Max
41211
Integer math 163.4 GOps/sec 91.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 116.3 GOps/sec 131.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 186M Primes/sec 573M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 64.7M Strings/sec 61.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 34.5 GBytes/sec 24.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 572.8 MBytes/sec 530.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 2510 Frames/sec 4332 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33B Matrices/sec 24.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 2555 & 409 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 13980HX
382.64
M3 Max +6%
403.83

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 36.6 PPW 30.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 315.2 PPW 378 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 824.3 PPW 735.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 6.96 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 13980HX
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-14 (Judicatio)Cinebench 2024128 / 1861
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-18 (Rennsport)Geekbench 6 CPU2951 / 17667
πŸ“˜ 2024-06-27 (PPLord)Cinebench 2024120 / 1190
Add View all (3)
Apple M3 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin)Cinebench 2024142 / 1698
πŸ“˜ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1)Cinebench 2024141 / 1459
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 13980HX and Apple M3 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released January 3, 2023 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Raptor Lake Apple M3
Model number i9-13980HX -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics (32EU) Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX -
Successor - - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
Intel CPU rating (#40th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 12
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.2 GHz 4.05 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.6 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 4
E-Threads 16 4
Base Frequency (E) 1.6 GHz 2.75 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 24 16
Total Threads 32 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 22x 40x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 2MB (per core) 32MB (shared)
L3 Cache 36MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 92 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 45-55 W (configurable) 56 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 157 W -
Socket BGA-1964 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Laptop processors ranking (47th and 15th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics (32EU) 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 13980HX
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 13980HX official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
253 (36.6%)
438 (63.4%)
Total votes: 691

Competitors

1. Intel Core i9 13980HX vs Intel Core i7 14700HX
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3. Intel Core i9 13980HX vs AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX (20)
4. Intel Core i9 13980HX vs Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (2)
5. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
6. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (1)
7. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Ultra
8. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
9. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra
10. Apple M3 Max vs Intel Core i9 14900K (10)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 Max or Intel Core i9 13980HX?
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Avatar
Meh July 1, 2024 at 01:56 AM
Intel literally sucks in most aspects. They literally never learn their lesson and had no innovation; thanks AMD (7940hs/7840hs/8890hs) and Apple (M-series) for stepping up the game so that Intel could at least improve. They heavily rely their processors with high power consumption to deliver shit performance. While Apple chip performs better with 1/2 of what Intel consumes. We're stuck with Intel's mediocre processor for thousands of years if Apple and AMD didn't step up the industry.
+14 Reply
Avatar
Codyjames June 2, 2024 at 06:30 AM
@ Ajay Rohilla. A simple Google check would show how wrong you are.
+13 Reply
Avatar
Ajay Rohilla May 11, 2024 at 01:41 PM
no matter how powerful m3 it cannot play AAA games or even some light games
+18 Reply
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