Apple M4 GPU (8-core) vs M2 GPU (8-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M4 GPU (8-core) with 128 pipelines and 1024 shaders against the 2 years and 5 months older M2 GPU (8-core) that utilizes 128 pipelines and 1024 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

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of M2 GPU (8-core) over M4 GPU (8-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M4 GPU (8-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 49%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology

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 13969 7316
Wild Life Extreme 7931 5676
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 57.4 img/sec 58.7 img/sec
Face Detection 41.3 img/sec 35.2 img/sec
Horizon Detection 1.21 Gpixels/sec 1.1 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 1.74 Gpixels/sec 1.82 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 1.12 Gpixels/sec 1.2 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.43 Gpixels/sec 0.37 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 94.9 Gpixels/sec 96 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 3902.5 FPS 3825.9 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
1067.96
Sources: Blender [9], [10] – 100 & 81 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) - 3242
Image Segmentation (HP) - 4890
Image Super Resolution (Q) - 7149
Face Detection (HP) - 10340
Pose Estimation (Q) - 21268
Text Classification (SP) - 2268
Machine Translation (HP) - 1122
Object Detection (SP) - 3007
Depth Estimation (Q) - 13941
Style Transfer (SP) - 35943
Framework - Core ML
Backend - GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M4 GPU (8-core) and M2 GPU (8-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released October 29, 2024 June 6, 2022
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom -
Successor - Apple M5 GPU (8-Core) - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M4 (8-Core) or above - Apple M2 or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M4 (8-Core) - Apple M2
Laptop GPU ranking (67th and 89th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 500 MHz 500 MHz
Boost Clock 1470 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 1024 1024
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 64 64
Render Output Units (ROPs) 32 32
Compute Units (Pipelines) 128 128
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 47 GPixel/s 45 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 94 GTexel/s 89 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
3 TFLOPS
2.9 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 15 W 15 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count - 11.6 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 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
120 GB/s
102.4 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
9 (42.9%)
12 (57.1%)
Total votes: 21

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