Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) vs M2 Pro GPU (19-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) with 320 pipelines and 2560 shaders against the 3 years and 2 months older M2 Pro GPU (19-core) that utilizes 304 pipelines and 2432 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 M2 Pro GPU (19-core) over M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 2x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • 22% higher maximum theoretical performance (8.3 vs 6.8 TFLOPS)
  • Achieves 78% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (87K vs 49K)
  • Has 50% higher memory bandwidth: 307 vs 204.8 GB/s

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 46865 16218
Wild Life Extreme 23737 12726
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 177.6 img/sec 89.7 img/sec
Face Detection 114.5 img/sec 58 img/sec
Horizon Detection 3.19 Gpixels/sec 1.94 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 4.45 Gpixels/sec 3.26 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 4.59 Gpixels/sec 2.19 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.96 Gpixels/sec 0.55 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 250.4 Gpixels/sec 163 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 12529.9 FPS 6139.2 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
Sources: Blender [9], [10]94 & 206 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) 8870 5279
Image Segmentation (HP) 28795 8089
Image Super Resolution (Q) 34820 15007
Face Detection (HP) 55699 19212
Pose Estimation (Q) 212347 44046
Text Classification (SP) 3018 2280
Machine Translation (HP) 9102 1972
Object Detection (SP) 8163 4941
Depth Estimation (Q) 70908 22209
Style Transfer (SP) 152297 79898
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) and M2 Pro GPU (19-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released March 3, 2026 January 17, 2023
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range High-end
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom -
Rival Equivalent - - GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop
Successor - - Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) or above - Apple M2 Pro or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) - Apple M2 Pro
Laptop GPU ranking (21st and 68th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock - 450 MHz
Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 2560 2432
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 160 152
Render Output Units (ROPs) 80 76
Compute Units (Pipelines) 320 304
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 130 GPixel/s 106 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 259 GTexel/s 212 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
8.3 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 28 W 35 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 26 billion
Max. Temperature 100°C 94°C

Memory

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

API

Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No

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