Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) vs M1 Pro GPU (16-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) with 160 pipelines and 1280 shaders against the 4 years older M1 Pro GPU (16-core) that utilizes 256 pipelines and 2048 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 Pro GPU (16-core) over M5 GPU (10-Core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
  • Performs better (up to 33%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • Achieves 79% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (75K vs 42K)
Reasons to consider the Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)
  • 29% higher maximum theoretical performance (5.3 vs 4.1 TFLOPS)
  • Has 34% higher memory bandwidth: 204.8 vs 153 GB/s
  • Has 60% more shading units (2048 vs 1280)

Benchmarks

Graphics cardsโ€™ 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 12485
Wild Life Extreme 12278 9873
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 GPU Compute

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 155.7 img/sec 74.5 img/sec
Face Detection 178.1 img/sec 47.3 img/sec
Horizon Detection 2.22 Gpixels/sec 1.73 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 2.87 Gpixels/sec 3.32 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 5.8 Gpixels/sec 1.75 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.95 Gpixels/sec 0.47 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 190.7 Gpixels/sec 131.2 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 6579.1 FPS 5143 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
2011.24
Sources: Blender [9], [10] โ€“ 145 & 502 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M5 GPU (10-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-01-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 OpenCL48688
Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Geekbench 6 OpenCL43467
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Cinebench 20242423
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Steel Nomad Light4048
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-02-21 (serhii)Geekbench 6 OpenCL40932

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 4112
Image Segmentation (HP) 16813 7488
Image Super Resolution (Q) 30322 9882
Face Detection (HP) 34387 14702
Pose Estimation (Q) 111591 33560
Text Classification (SP) 2319 2289
Machine Translation (HP) 5555 1629
Object Detection (SP) 6450 3633
Depth Estimation (Q) 53195 16986
Style Transfer (SP) 82314 53586
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) and M1 Pro GPU (16-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released October 15, 2025 October 18, 2021
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 RTX 3050 Laptop
Successor - - Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M5 (10-Core) or above - Apple M1 Pro or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M5 (10-Core) - Apple M1 Pro
Laptop GPU ranking (45th and 79th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock - 450 MHz
Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 1280 2048
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 80 128
Render Output Units (ROPs) 40 64
Compute Units (Pipelines) 160 256
Ray-tracing Cores - No
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 65 GPixel/s 83 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 130 GTexel/s 166 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
4.1 TFLOPS
5.3 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP - 30 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 23.2 billion
Max. Temperature 100ยฐC 94ยฐC

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 9600 MHz 6400 MHz
Effective Memory Speed - 12800 Mbps
Bus 128-bit 256-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
153 GB/s
204.8 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
21 (70%)
9 (30%)
Total votes: 30

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