Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) vs M3 Pro GPU (18-core)

We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) with 320 pipelines and 2560 shaders against the 2 years and 5 months older M3 Pro GPU (18-core) that utilizes 288 pipelines and 2304 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 M3 Pro GPU (18-core) over M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 64%) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • 30% higher maximum theoretical performance (8.3 vs 6.4 TFLOPS)
  • Has 2x higher memory bandwidth: 307 vs 153.6 GB/s
  • Achieves 2x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (87K vs 43K)

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 46856 22637
Wild Life Extreme 23747 14021
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 82.1 img/sec
Face Detection 114.5 img/sec 53.6 img/sec
Horizon Detection 3.19 Gpixels/sec 1.82 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 4.45 Gpixels/sec 2.59 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 4.59 Gpixels/sec 1.84 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.96 Gpixels/sec 0.48 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 250.4 Gpixels/sec 148.6 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 12529.9 FPS 4893.9 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
Sources: Blender [9], [10] – 113 & 240 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 5578
Image Segmentation (HP) 28795 9924
Image Super Resolution (Q) 34820 13323
Face Detection (HP) 55699 19900
Pose Estimation (Q) 212347 35730
Text Classification (SP) 3018 2904
Machine Translation (HP) 9102 4985
Object Detection (SP) 8163 5496
Depth Estimation (Q) 70908 23344
Style Transfer (SP) 152297 78342
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) and M3 Pro GPU (18-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released March 3, 2026 October 31, 2023
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom Custom
Rival Equivalent - - GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
Successor - - Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Recommended CPU - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) or above - Apple M3 Pro or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) - Apple M3 Pro
Laptop GPU ranking (22nd and 61st place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock - 500 MHz
Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 2560 2304
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 160 144
Render Output Units (ROPs) 80 72
Compute Units (Pipelines) 320 288
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 130 GPixel/s 99 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 259 GTexel/s 199 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
8.3 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 28 W 30 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count 28 billion 25.2 billion
Max. Temperature 100°C 100°C

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 9600 MHz 6400 MHz
Effective Memory Speed - 12800 Mbps
Bus 256-bit 192-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
307 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes Yes
DLSS No No

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