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Intel Core i9 14900K vs Apple M3 Max

86 out of 100
Intel Core i9 14900K
VS
83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
Intel Core i9 14900K
Apple M3 Max

We compared two CPUs: the 3.2 GHz Intel Core i9 14900K (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 (10)

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 14900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 14900K
  • 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

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 14900K
vs
M3 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 14900K
129
M3 Max +10%
142
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 14900K +23%
2086
M3 Max
1698
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 5133
Cinebench Scores (17th 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 14900K
3171
M3 Max +2%
3227
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 14900K +7%
22629
M3 Max
21167
File compression 1940 MB/sec 2190 MB/sec
Clang compilation 194.6 Klines/sec 198.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 589.2 pages/sec 557.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 638.4 Mpixels/sec 648.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 318.7 pages/sec 309.1 pages/sec
Background blur 71.7 images/sec 68.9 images/sec
Photo processing 191.6 images/sec 183.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 41.7 Mpixels/sec 30.6 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 644 & 678 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 14900K
4691
M3 Max +2%
4780
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 14900K +41%
58245
M3 Max
41211
Integer math 209.3 GOps/sec 91.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 152.1 GOps/sec 131.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 228M Primes/sec 573M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 86.6M Strings/sec 61.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 46.5 GBytes/sec 24.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 785.8 MBytes/sec 530.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 3098 Frames/sec 4332 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 44.7B Matrices/sec 24.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 13248 & 409 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 14900K +27%
512.57
M3 Max
403.83

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 16.7 PPW 30.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 181 PPW 378 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 466 PPW 735.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.1 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 14900K
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-02-24 (Tanvir)Cinebench 2024129 / 2086
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-01-31 (Kreuz)Cinebench 2024128 / 1976
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-15 (Lil-Shady)Cinebench 2024136 / 2103
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-10 (Astromavic)Cinebench 2024134 / 1989
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-14 (cinebench251114)Cinebench 2024134 / 2114
Add View all (30)
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 14900K and Apple M3 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released October 16, 2023 October 30, 2023
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Raptor Lake Refresh Apple M3
Model number i9-14900K -
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 (#7th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 12
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.2 GHz 4.05 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 6 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 4
E-Threads 16 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.75 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4.4 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 24 16
Total Threads 32 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 32x 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 (#13th 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 14900K
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 14900K official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
634 (57.2%)
475 (42.8%)
Total votes: 1109

Competitors

1. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (1)
2. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Ultra
3. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
4. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
5. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra
6. Intel Core i9 14900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (2)
7. Intel Core i9 14900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (3)
8. Intel Core i9 14900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
9. Intel Core i9 14900K vs Intel Core i9 14900
10. Intel Core i9 14900K vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (7)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 Max or Intel Core i9 14900K?
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Avatar
SomeSence April 7, 2024 at 01:23 PM
The M3 is an ARM processor, which from a developer's perspective, requires a significant amount of additional work. Even though numerous libraries, software, and tools claim to fully support M3 processors, most of them don't.
+17 Reply
Avatar
MarkOfWA March 13, 2024 at 02:52 AM
The only place the Intel architecture might make sense is in places where electricity is cheap, and the compute box is in a basement in a cold climate being used by people who are deaf. For the rest of us, living in real homes where we pay for the electricity and the AC, the Apple SOC architecture is vastly better.
+21 Reply
Avatar
Julian May 17, 2024 at 03:26 AM
Power Efficiency is for people who can't build chips. Also, weren't the Apple users boasting about how rich they are? I reckon the electricity bill won't be a problem considering how broke a PC user must be.
+9 Reply
Avatar
Inconceivable December 29, 2024 at 06:07 AM
Purely illogical rant. Virtual and architectural support far outweigh a few dollars a month. It's sad that Intel isn't as innovative as it once was.
+2 Reply
Avatar
Leon November 7, 2023 at 04:46 PM
The M3 Max is a laptop SoC that delivers equivalent performance, but with substantially higher efficiency across the system. Apple is a top-tier manufacturer in the world due to their all-in-one chip, absence of fan noise, incredible battery life, and seamless software and hardware integration within the Apple ecosystem. Other hardware platforms simply can't compete with this level of optimization. I'm eagerly waiting for the M3 Ultra which is expected to double the performance, and the M3 Extreme which promises to quadruple it. To put it into perspective, the M3 Max only uses 30 watts for the SoC, whereas the i9 uses 250 watts with no GPU, NPU, RAM, SSD, or other components included.
+40 Reply
Avatar
sdasf January 19, 2024 at 02:39 PM
Yes, because it's a laptop chip, not a desktop one... I have a lot of fun upgrading and repairing your components.
+21 Reply
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Hii February 3, 2024 at 04:45 PM
sdasf, you can't put your desktop into your backpack and travel with it. they have similar performance but the Apple one fits inside your backpack!
+16 Reply
Avatar
Carsim November 7, 2023 at 04:41 PM
No, this is because the M3 has significantly higher GPU, ML, and Memory Bandwidth. Furthermore, it consumes only 30 watts as a system-on-a-chip, without any boost mode required. Comparatively, Intel requires 125 watts, and for less than 1% more computing power, it needs more than 250 watts. This is only achievable with increased threads and extra cores.
+16 Reply
Avatar
Julian May 17, 2024 at 03:24 AM
You are forgetting that a PC can have a dedicated GPU, which is miles ahead of Apple's iGPU, and the PC costs less than Apple. Combining the CPU, GPU, RAM, and cooling, a PC can annihilate an Apple machine. Also, power efficiency is for people who can't build chips.
+12 Reply
Avatar
ComputerNerd November 6, 2023 at 01:57 AM
The Intel 14th generation K series CPU is still better than the new M3 Max on the Geekbench 6 multi-core score, and it is more energy saving focused. Wow! Nothing to fear for the Windows OS or Linux OS side for desktops. Any MacBook is still going to be far better for battery life, thus making it great for laptops. Recommendations for Windows/Linux fans: - If financially possible: Go big on the desktop's specs, and light on the laptops. Example: A desktop with an Intel 13th or 14th gen H series CPU and a Nvidia 4060 to 4090 GPU. The laptop can be a refurbished HP Dragonfly G4 or a refurbished Dell Latitude 7440. Both offer an energy preservation-focused Intel U series CPU. Recommendations for Apple fans: - Go big on the laptop's specs and go light on the desktop specs. A LG 27-inch QHD monitor with 144hz refresh rate and a decent wireless keyboard & mouse. Connect the high spec laptop to the monitor. M3 MacBook Pro 14-inch or the M3 Max 16-inch as a laptop.
+35 Reply
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