Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) vs M1 Max GPU (32-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) with 160 pipelines and 1280 shaders against the 2 years and 7 months older M1 Max GPU (32-core) that utilizes 512 pipelines and 4096 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
AI/ML
Capabilities for machine learning and AI-related tasks
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
NanoReview Final Score
Overall video card score

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of M1 Max GPU (32-core) over M4 GPU (10-Core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M4 GPU (10-Core)
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
Reasons to consider the Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 81%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • 2.8x higher maximum theoretical performance (10.6 vs 3.8 TFLOPS)
  • Has 3.4x higher memory bandwidth: 409.6 vs 120 GB/s
  • Achieves 91% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (71K vs 37K)
  • Has 3.2x more shading units (4096 vs 1280)

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 16554 22586
Wild Life Extreme 9610 19880
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 72.2 img/sec 120.7 img/sec
Face Detection 48.3 img/sec 78.9 img/sec
Horizon Detection 1.4 Gpixels/sec 3.18 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 1.94 Gpixels/sec 6.15 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 1.5 Gpixels/sec 3.44 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.53 Gpixels/sec 0.62 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 123.3 Gpixels/sec 229.8 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 4938.4 FPS 8822.9 FPS
API OpenCL OpenCL
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]

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], [10]529 & 666 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) 4874 5466
Image Segmentation (HP) 8168 12415
Image Super Resolution (Q) 11983 15930
Face Detection (HP) 17036 23179
Pose Estimation (Q) 31171 58520
Text Classification (SP) 2964 2299
Machine Translation (HP) 3410 1713
Object Detection (SP) 5112 5388
Depth Estimation (Q) 22700 26458
Style Transfer (SP) 60872 98278
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) and M1 Max GPU (32-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released May 7, 2024 October 18, 2021
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range High-end
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom -
Rival Equivalent - Adreno X1-85 - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
Successor - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M4 (10-Core) or above - Apple M1 Max or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M4 (10-Core) - Apple M1 Max
Laptop GPU ranking (71st and 53rd place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
Boost Clock 1470 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 1280 4096
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 80 256
Render Output Units (ROPs) 40 128
Compute Units (Pipelines) 160 512
Ray-tracing Cores - No
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 59 GPixel/s 166 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 118 GTexel/s 332 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
3.8 TFLOPS
10.6 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 18 W -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 46.4 billion
Max. Temperature 100°C 94°C

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 7500 MHz 6400 MHz
Effective Memory Speed 15000 Mbps 12800 Mbps
Bus 128-bit 512-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
120 GB/s
409.6 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
1 (6.7%)
14 (93.3%)
Total votes: 15

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