GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop vs Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
VS
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop
AD103 (GN21-X11)
We performed a head-to-head comparison of the GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile 16 GB with 76 pipelines and 9728 shaders against the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) that utilizes 608 pipelines and 4864 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.
Some GPUs come in different configurations. For greater precision, pick a specific config below
Review
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
Reasons to consider the GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop
- Performs significantly better (up to 2.4x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
- 2.9x higher maximum theoretical performance (39.7 vs 13.6 TFLOPS)
- Includes 16 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory
- Supports Nvidia DLSS 3 technology
- Achieves 2.3x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (203K vs 86K)
- Has 25% higher memory bandwidth: 512 vs 409.6 GB/s
- Has 2x more shading units (9728 vs 4864)
Gaming Performance
Frame rate comparison across popular AAA titles at different resolutionsGames
| Forza Horizon 5 | 188 131 122 92 |
- |
| The Witcher 3 | 211 176 132 67 |
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| Counter-Strike 2 | 277 217 158 82 |
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| Far Cry 6 | 160 144 125 79 |
- |
| Hogwarts Legacy | 137 111 86 47 |
- |
| CoD: Modern Warfare III | 177 165 132 84 |
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| Ghost of Tsushima | 122 102 86 52 |
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| Cyberpunk 2077 | 151 135 93 44 |
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| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 250 235 175 96 |
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| 1080p High | 186 | - |
| 1080p Ultra | 157 | - |
| 1440p Ultra | 123 | - |
| 4K Ultra | 71 | - |
| Margin of Error | Low | High |
Benchmarks
Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps3D Mark
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Time Spy | 21388 | - |
| Solar Bay | 96121 | 30368 |
| Port Royal | 13734 | - |
| Fire Strike | 45207 | - |
| Wild Life Extreme | 42501 | 24948 |
| Night Raid | 147911 | - |
GeekBench 6 OpenCL
GB6 Compute Score
| Background Blur | 264 img/sec | 149 img/sec |
| Face Detection | 134.3 img/sec | 98.1 img/sec |
| Horizon Detection | 9.27 Gpixels/sec | 3.8 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge Detection | 12.7 Gpixels/sec | 6.88 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian Blur | 13.2 Gpixels/sec | 4.44 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature Matching | 1.92 Gpixels/sec | 0.73 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo Matching | 1060 Gpixels/sec | 264.9 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle Physics | 29225.1 FPS | 11144.2 FPS |
| API | OpenCL | OpenCL |
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Passmark Graphics
G3D Mark Score
| G2D Mark | 988 | - |
| DirectX 11 | 257 FPS | - |
| DirectX 12 | 106 FPS | - |
| GPU Compute | 12157 Ops/s | - |
Blender
Blender GPU
Recent User Tests
GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-09 (Horikita) | Geekbench 6 OpenCL | 213782 |
| 📘 2025-11-03 (JJ) | Cinebench 2024 | 23277 |
| 📘 2025-11-03 (JJ) | Cinebench 2024 | 22714 |
Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
No benchmark results yet
Artificial Intelligence Tests
Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasksGeekBench 6 ML
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
| Image Classification (SP) | 11346 | 6657 |
| Image Segmentation (HP) | 24625 | 13854 |
| Image Super Resolution (Q) | 36874 | 18642 |
| Face Detection (HP) | 50088 | 27965 |
| Pose Estimation (Q) | 174844 | 83144 |
| Text Classification (SP) | 3226 | 2377 |
| Machine Translation (HP) | 4905 | 2052 |
| Object Detection (SP) | 14667 | 6495 |
| Depth Estimation (Q) | 53868 | 31105 |
| Style Transfer (SP) | 340056 | 135686 |
| Framework | ONNX | Core ML |
| Backend | DirectML | GPU |
Results were compared using different ML frameworks
Specifications
Technical specifications of GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop and Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)General
| Vendor | Nvidia | Apple |
| Build | Discrete | Integrated |
| Released | February 8, 2023 | January 17, 2023 |
| Case | Laptop | Laptop |
| Purpose | Gaming | Professional |
| Segment | High-end | High-end |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Apple M GPU |
| GPU Codename | AD103 (GN21-X11) | - |
| Rival Equivalent | - | - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop |
| Successor | - GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop | - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) |
| Recommended CPU | - Intel Core Ultra 9 185H or above | - |
| Used in CPUs | - | - Apple M2 Max |
Laptop GPU ranking (4th and 40th place)
Graphics Processing Unit
| Base Clock | 930-1620 MHz (configurable) | 450 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1455-2040 MHz (configurable) | 1398 MHz |
| Shading Units | 9728 | 4864 |
| Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) | 304 | 304 |
| Render Output Units (ROPs) | 112 | 152 |
| Compute Units (Pipelines) | 76 | 608 |
| Tensor Cores | 304 | - |
| Ray-tracing Cores | 76 | - |
| L1 Cache | 128KB per cluster | - |
| L2 Cache | 64MB shared | - |
| Instructions Per Cycle | 2 IPC | 2 IPC |
Raw Performance
| Pixel Fill Rate | 163-228 GPixel/s | 212 GPixel/s |
| Texture Fill Rate | 442-620 GTexel/s | 425 GTexel/s |
FLOPS (FP32)
Physical
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | Custom |
| TGP | 80-175 W (configurable) | 70 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Fabrication Process | 5 nm | 5 nm |
| Die Size | 379 mm² | - |
| Transistor Count | 45.9 billion | 52 billion |
| Transistor Density | 121.11 MTr/mm² | - |
| Max. Temperature | - | 94°C |
Memory
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | System Shared |
| Memory Size | 16 GB | - |
| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz | 6400 MHz |
| Effective Memory Speed | 16000 Mbps | 12800 Mbps |
| Bus | 256-bit | 512-bit |
| ECC | No | No |
Memory Bandwidth
API
| DirectX | 12 | - |
| Vulkan | 1.3 | - |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | - |
| OpenCL | 3.0 | - |
| CUDA | 8.9 | - |
| Ray Tracing | Yes | No |
| DLSS | DLSS 3 | No |
| DisplayPort | 1.4a | - |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 4