Apple M1 GPU (8-core) vs Adreno X2-45

We compared two integrated laptop graphics cards: the Apple M1 GPU (8-core) with 128 pipelines and 1024 shaders against the 4 years and 11 months newer Adreno X2-45 that utilizes 1152 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.

Review

General comparison of performance in games, applications, power efficiency, and other metrics
Gaming
Performance in DirectX, OpenCL, and Vulkan games
Workstation
Perf. in 3D modeling, video editing and rendering apps
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
NanoReview Final Score
Overall video card score
Scores marked with a red asterisk (**) represent initial estimates from early testing.

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of Adreno X2-45 over M1 GPU (8-core)
Reasons to consider the Adreno X2-45
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • 50% higher maximum theoretical performance (3.9 vs 2.6 TFLOPS)
  • Has 2.2x higher memory bandwidth: 152 vs 68.2 GB/s

Benchmarks

Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps

3D Mark

Multiplatform graphics benchmark suite that directly correlates with performance in modern games
Steel Nomad Lite Score
Solar Bay 6317 -
Wild Life Extreme 4966 -
Sources: 3DMark [1]

GeekBench 6 GPU Compute

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 38.3 img/sec -
Face Detection 23 img/sec -
Horizon Detection 0.76 Gpixels/sec -
Edge Detection 1.33 Gpixels/sec -
Gaussian Blur 0.87 Gpixels/sec -
Feature Matching 0.27 Gpixels/sec -
Stereo Matching 69.9 Gpixels/sec -
Particle Physics 2766.4 FPS -
API OpenCL -
Sources: Geekbench [3]

Cinebench 2024 GPU

Hardware benchmark using Maxon's Cinema 4D rendering engine
Cinebench 2024 GPU

Blender

Rendering performance test for 3D modeling
Blender GPU
Sources: Blender [9] – 307 samples

Artificial Intelligence Tests

Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks

GeekBench 6 ML

Tests throughput of AI operations in single, half, and quantized precision
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
Image Classification (SP) 1400 -
Image Segmentation (HP) 2280 -
Image Super Resolution (Q) 3402 -
Face Detection (HP) 5638 -
Pose Estimation (Q) 12027 -
Text Classification (SP) 2324 -
Machine Translation (HP) 4296 -
Object Detection (SP) 1530 -
Depth Estimation (Q) 7675 -
Style Transfer (SP) 17293 -
Framework Core ML -
Backend CPU -
Sources: Geekbench [9]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M1 GPU (8-core) and Adreno X2-45

General

Vendor Apple Qualcomm
Build Integrated Integrated
Released November 20, 2020 September 25, 2025
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Generic
Segment Mid-range Entry-level
Architecture Apple M GPU Adreno X2
GPU Codename - Adreno X2
Rival Equivalent - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile -
Successor - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) -
Recommended CPU - Apple M1 or above - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus (X2P-64-100) or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M1 - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus (X2P-64-100)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus (X2P-42-100)
Laptop GPU ranking (105th and 28th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 450 MHz 500 MHz
Boost Clock 1278 MHz 910-1700 MHz (configurable)
Shading Units 1024 1152
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 64 72
Render Output Units (ROPs) 32 36
Compute Units (Pipelines) 128 -
Tensor Cores - No
Ray-tracing Cores No -
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 41 GPixel/s 33-61 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 82 GTexel/s 66-122 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
2.6 TFLOPS
2.1-3.9 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom IGP
TGP 15 W -
Manufacturing Intel TSMC
Fabrication Process 5 nm 3 nm
Die Size - 220 mm²
Transistor Count 11.6 billion -
Max. Temperature 94°C -

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 4266 MHz -
Effective Memory Speed 8532 Mbps -
Bus 128-bit 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
68.2 GB/s
Adreno X2-45 +123%
152 GB/s

API

DirectX - 12.2
Vulkan - 1.4
OpenCL - 3.0
CUDA - No
Ray Tracing No Yes
DLSS No No
DisplayPort - 1.4

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