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Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) vs M1 GPU (8-core)

Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
VS
Apple M1 GPU (8-core)
Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
Custom
Apple M1 GPU (8-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) with 160 pipelines and 1280 shaders against the 4 years and 11 months 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.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Benchmarks
  4. AI
  5. Specs
  6. Comments

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 M5 GPU (10-Core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 2.7x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • 58% higher maximum theoretical performance (4.1 vs 2.6 TFLOPS)
  • Achieves 3.6x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (75K vs 20K)
  • Has 2.2x higher memory bandwidth: 153 vs 68.2 GB/s
  • Has 25% more shading units (1280 vs 1024)
GPU
M5 GPU (10-Core)
vs
M1 GPU (8-core)

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 24536 6317
Wild Life Extreme 12278 4966
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 GPU Compute

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
M5 GPU (10-Core) +264%
75777
M1 GPU (8-core)
20842
Background Blur 155.7 img/sec 38.3 img/sec
Face Detection 178.1 img/sec 23 img/sec
Horizon Detection 2.22 Gpixels/sec 0.76 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 2.87 Gpixels/sec 1.33 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 5.8 Gpixels/sec 0.87 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.95 Gpixels/sec 0.27 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 190.7 Gpixels/sec 69.9 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 6579.1 FPS 2766.4 FPS
API Metal 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
M5 GPU (10-Core) +676%
2022.33
M1 GPU (8-core)
260.64
Sources: Blender [9], [10] – 135 & 307 samples
Add your GPU benchmark result

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-01-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 OpenCL48688
Add View all (1)
Apple M1 GPU (8-core)
No benchmark results yet
Add

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) 6348 1400
Image Segmentation (HP) 16813 2280
Image Super Resolution (Q) 30322 3402
Face Detection (HP) 34387 5638
Pose Estimation (Q) 111591 12027
Text Classification (SP) 2319 2324
Machine Translation (HP) 5555 4296
Object Detection (SP) 6450 1530
Depth Estimation (Q) 53195 7675
Style Transfer (SP) 82314 17293
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU CPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) and M1 GPU (8-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released October 15, 2025 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 - Adreno X2-90 - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Successor - - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M5 (10-Core) or above - Apple M1 or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M5 (10-Core) - Apple M1
Laptop GPU ranking (44th and 104th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock - 450 MHz
Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1278 MHz
Shading Units 1280 1024
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 80 64
Render Output Units (ROPs) 40 32
Compute Units (Pipelines) 160 128
Ray-tracing Cores - No
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 65 GPixel/s 41 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 130 GTexel/s 82 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
M5 GPU (10-Core) +58%
4.1 TFLOPS
M1 GPU (8-core)
2.6 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP - 15 W
Manufacturing TSMC Intel
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 11.6 billion
Max. Temperature 100°C 94°C

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 9600 MHz 4266 MHz
Effective Memory Speed - 8532 Mbps
Bus 128-bit 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
M5 GPU (10-Core) +124%
153 GB/s
M1 GPU (8-core)
68.2 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
7 (87.5%)
1 (12.5%)
Total votes: 8

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