Intel Core i9 9900K vs Apple M3
41
out of 100
VS
65
out of 100
We compared two 8-core CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i9 9900K (desktop) against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 (laptop). On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.
Review
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.
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Value for money (Beta)
Key Differences
Advantages of Intel Core i9 9900K
- Supports up to 128 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
- Unlocked multiplier
Advantages of Apple M3
- More powerful Apple M3 GPU integrated graphics: 3.5 vs 0.5 TFLOPS
- More modern manufacturing process โ 3 versus 14 nanometers
- Newer - released 5 years and 2 months later
- Around 60.8 GB/s (146%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
- 86% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3009 vs 1621 points
- Newer PCI Express version โ 4.0
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
| Cinebench 2026 (Multi) | - | 2341 |
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 545.7 MB/sec | 1260 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 67.7 Klines/sec | 94.7 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 175.1 pages/sec | 264.5 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 275.6 Mpixels/sec | 313.9 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 159 pages/sec | 297 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 40.4 images/sec | 50.2 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 68.6 images/sec | 114.8 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 14.5 Mpixels/sec | 12.9 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 66.1 GOps/sec | 42.6 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 41 GOps/sec | 48.3 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 46M Primes/sec | 231M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 36.1M Strings/sec | 27.3M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 6.3 GBytes/sec | 11.5 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 282.6 MBytes/sec | 225 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 929 Frames/sec | 1867 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 19B Matrices/sec | 10B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 7.4 PPW | 35.6 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 85.8 PPW | 590.8 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 190.1 PPW | 953.3 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 1.88 PPW | 8.02 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Intel Core i9 9900K
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2026-01-01 (Mr Scare) | Cinebench 2024 | 79 / 662 |
| ๐ 2025-08-09 (EndOfTheWorld77) | Cinebench 2024 | 78 / 591 |
| ๐ 2024-03-28 (Gribbstar) | Cinebench 2024 | 79 / 706 |
Apple M3
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs) | GeekBench | 2991 / 11735 |
| ๐ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup) | GeekBench | 2990 / 11498 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 9900K and Apple M3General
| Vendor | Intel | Apple |
| Released | October 8, 2018 | October 30, 2023 |
| Type | Desktop | Laptop |
| Instruction Set | x86-64 | ARMv8 |
| Codename | Coffee Lake | Apple M3 |
| Model number | i9-9900K | - |
| Integrated GPU | UHD Graphics 630 | Apple M3 GPU |
| Rival Equivalent | - AMD Ryzen 9 3900X | - |
| Successor | - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | - Apple M5 (10-Core) |
CPU
| P-Cores | 8 | 4 |
| P-Threads | 16 | 4 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 3.6 GHz | 4.05 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | 5 GHz | - |
| E-Cores | - | 4 |
| E-Threads | - | 4 |
| Base Frequency (E) | - | 2.75 GHz |
| Total Cores | 8 | 8 |
| Total Threads | 16 | 8 |
| Bus Frequency | 100 MHz | - |
| Multiplier | 36x | 40x |
| Bus Bandwidth | 8 GT/s | - |
| L1 Cache | 64K (per core) | 192K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 256K (per core) | 16MB (shared) |
| L3 Cache | 16MB (shared) | - |
| Unlocked Multiplier | Yes | No |
Package
| Transistors | - | 25 billions |
| Fabrication Process | 14 nm | 3 nm |
| TDP (PL1) | 95 W | 20 W |
| Socket | LGA-1151 | Apple M-Socket |
| Peak Temperature | 100ยฐC | 100ยฐC |
Desktop CPU ranking (#145th place)
Laptop processors ranking (#69th place)
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | Apple M3 GPU |
| GPU Base Clock | 350 MHz | 500 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1200 MHz | 1380 MHz |
| Shading Units | 192 | 1280 |
| TMUs | 24 | 80 |
| ROPs | 3 | 40 |
| Execution Units | 24 | 160 |
| TGP | 15 W | 15 W |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory Support
| Memory Types | - DDR4-2666 | - LPDDR5-6400 |
| Max. Memory Size | 128 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory Channels | 2 | 8 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 41.6 GB/s | 102.4 GB/s |
| ECC Support | No | No |
Misc
| Official Site | Intel Core i9 9900K official page | - |
| PCI Express Version | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| PCI Express Lanes | 16 | - |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 17
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