Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core) vs Max GPU (32-core)

We performed a head-to-head comparison of the Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core) with 1024 pipelines and 8192 shaders against the 6 months older Max GPU (32-core) that utilizes 512 pipelines and 4096 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
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
NanoReview Final Score
Overall video card score
Scores marked with a red asterisk (**) represent initial estimates from early testing.
The "Energy Efficiency" metric has less impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop GPU.

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of M5 Max GPU (32-core) over M5 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core)
  • 2x higher maximum theoretical performance (26.5 vs 13.3 TFLOPS)
  • Has 2.7x higher memory bandwidth: 1228.8 vs 460.8 GB/s
  • Has 2x more shading units (8192 vs 4096)

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 - 69788
Wild Life Extreme - 35786
Sources: 3DMark [1]

GeekBench 6 GPU Compute

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur - 234.8 img/sec
Face Detection - 158.1 img/sec
Horizon Detection - 4.48 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection - 6.62 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur - 7.19 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching - 1.17 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching - 384.9 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics - 17866.8 FPS
API - OpenCL
Sources: Geekbench [3]

Blender

Rendering performance test for 3D modeling
Sources: Blender [9] – 37 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) - 10338
Image Segmentation (HP) - 42053
Image Super Resolution (Q) - 41729
Face Detection (HP) - 71929
Pose Estimation (Q) - 287035
Text Classification (SP) - 2958
Machine Translation (HP) - 9156
Object Detection (SP) - 9951
Depth Estimation (Q) - 82338
Style Transfer (SP) - 264780
Framework - Core ML
Backend - GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core) and Max GPU (32-core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released August 25, 2026 March 3, 2026
Case Desktop Laptop
Purpose Professional Professional
Segment High-end Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename Custom Custom
Rival Equivalent - GeForce RTX 5080 -
Recommended CPU - Apple M5 Ultra (30-Core) or above - Apple M5 Max (32-сore GPU) or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M5 Ultra (30-Core) - Apple M5 Max (32-сore GPU)
Desktop GPU rating (#22nd place)
Laptop GPU ranking (#9th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 500 MHz -
Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1620 MHz
Shading Units 8192 4096
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 640 256
Render Output Units (ROPs) 320 128
Compute Units (Pipelines) 1024 512
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 518 GPixel/s 207 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 1037 GTexel/s 415 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
26.5 TFLOPS
13.3 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count - 28 billion
Max. Temperature - 100°C

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 9600 MHz 9600 MHz
Bus 1024-bit 384-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth
1228.8 GB/s

API

Ray Tracing Yes Yes
DLSS No No

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