Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) vs M3 GPU (10-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) with 160 pipelines and 1280 shaders against the 6 months older M3 GPU (10-core) that utilizes 160 pipelines and 1280 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 M3 GPU (10-core) over M4 GPU (10-Core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M4 GPU (10-Core)
  • Performs slightly better (up to 18%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Achieves 25% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (37K vs 30K)

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 13531
Wild Life Extreme 9610 8237
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 60.3 img/sec
Face Detection 48.3 img/sec 40.8 img/sec
Horizon Detection 1.4 Gpixels/sec 1.21 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 1.94 Gpixels/sec 1.64 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 1.5 Gpixels/sec 1.2 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.53 Gpixels/sec 0.37 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 123.3 Gpixels/sec 102.6 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 4938.4 FPS 3293.3 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
1067.3
Sources: Blender [9], [10]529 & 302 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M4 GPU (10-Core)
No benchmark results yet
Apple M3 GPU (10-core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-04-24 (Alex)Geekbench 6 OpenCL31004

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 1579
Image Segmentation (HP) 8168 2944
Image Super Resolution (Q) 11983 4425
Face Detection (HP) 17036 6661
Pose Estimation (Q) 31171 15020
Text Classification (SP) 2964 2984
Machine Translation (HP) 3410 5876
Object Detection (SP) 5112 1826
Depth Estimation (Q) 22700 9339
Style Transfer (SP) 60872 22291
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU CPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M4 GPU (10-Core) and M3 GPU (10-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released May 7, 2024 October 31, 2023
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom -
Rival Equivalent - Adreno X1-85 - GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
Successor - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M4 (10-Core) or above - Apple M3 or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M4 (10-Core) - Apple M3
Laptop GPU ranking (71st and 79th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 500 MHz 500 MHz
Boost Clock 1470 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 1280 1280
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 80 80
Render Output Units (ROPs) 40 40
Compute Units (Pipelines) 160 160
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 59 GPixel/s 55 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 118 GTexel/s 110 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
3.8 TFLOPS
3.5 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 18 W 15 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 13.8 billion
Max. Temperature 100°C 100°C

Memory

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

API

Ray Tracing Yes Yes
DLSS No No

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
47 (87%)
7 (13%)
Total votes: 54

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