Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core) vs M1 GPU (8-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core) with 256 pipelines and 2048 shaders against the 4 years older M1 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
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 GPU (8-core) over M4 Pro GPU (16-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 3.5x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • 2.5x higher maximum theoretical performance (6.5 vs 2.6 TFLOPS)
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • Has 4x higher memory bandwidth: 273 vs 68.2 GB/s
  • Achieves 2.9x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (61K vs 20K)
  • Has 2x more shading units (2048 vs 1024)

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 28734 6317
Wild Life Extreme 16471 4966
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 106 img/sec 38.3 img/sec
Face Detection 73.1 img/sec 23 img/sec
Horizon Detection 2.59 Gpixels/sec 0.76 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 3.8 Gpixels/sec 1.33 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 2.4 Gpixels/sec 0.87 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.73 Gpixels/sec 0.27 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 198.6 Gpixels/sec 69.9 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 8166.3 FPS 2766.4 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
2360.51
Sources: Blender [9], [10] – 289 & 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) 7548 1400
Image Segmentation (HP) 15108 2280
Image Super Resolution (Q) 20789 3402
Face Detection (HP) 28665 5638
Pose Estimation (Q) 57124 12027
Text Classification (SP) 2888 2324
Machine Translation (HP) 6086 4296
Object Detection (SP) 6804 1530
Depth Estimation (Q) 32732 7675
Style Transfer (SP) 123465 17293
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU CPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core) and M1 GPU (8-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released October 29, 2024 November 20, 2020
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom -
Rival Equivalent - GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Successor - Apple M5 Pro GPU (16-core) - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) or above - Apple M1 or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) - Apple M1
Laptop GPU ranking (46th and 105th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
Boost Clock 1578 MHz 1278 MHz
Shading Units 2048 1024
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 128 64
Render Output Units (ROPs) 64 32
Compute Units (Pipelines) 256 128
Ray-tracing Cores - No
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 101 GPixel/s 41 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 202 GTexel/s 82 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
6.5 TFLOPS
2.6 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 26 W 15 W
Manufacturing TSMC Intel
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 8533 MHz 4266 MHz
Effective Memory Speed 15000 Mbps 8532 Mbps
Bus 192-bit 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
273 GB/s
68.2 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

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Total votes: 4

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