Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) vs Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)

We compared two integrated laptop graphics cards: the Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) with 64 pipelines and 512 shaders against the 2 years and 3 months newer Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) that utilizes 640 pipelines and 5120 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 M5 Max GPU (40-core) over Arc iGPU (4-Cores)
Reasons to consider the Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
  • 8.3x higher maximum theoretical performance (16.6 vs 2 TFLOPS)
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • Achieves 9x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (146K vs 16K)
  • Has 10x more shading units (5120 vs 512)

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 - 79263
Wild Life Extreme - 42423
Sources: 3DMark [1]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 37.6 img/sec 257 img/sec
Face Detection 17.2 img/sec 182.1 img/sec
Horizon Detection 0.3 Gpixels/sec 5.4 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 0.63 Gpixels/sec 8.33 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 0.94 Gpixels/sec 8.86 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.22 Gpixels/sec 1.28 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 60 Gpixels/sec 455.4 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 3695.9 FPS 21658 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]201 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores)
No benchmark results yet
Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-16 -> Apple loverGeekBench146276
📘 2026-03-25 (Steven)Cinebench 20249283
📘 2026-03-25 (Steven)Steel Nomad Light18486

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) 2902 10711
Image Segmentation (HP) 5473 42406
Image Super Resolution (Q) 2967 42905
Face Detection (HP) 6068 73489
Pose Estimation (Q) 8220 289766
Text Classification (SP) 609 6087
Machine Translation (HP) 1146 8881
Object Detection (SP) 2766 10130
Depth Estimation (Q) 6405 84224
Style Transfer (SP) 26796 264552
Framework ONNX Core ML
Backend DirectML GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]
Results were compared using different ML frameworks

Specifications

Technical specifications of Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) and Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released December 14, 2023 March 3, 2026
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Generic Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Xe LPG Apple M GPU
GPU Codename - Custom
Rival Equivalent - Radeon 740M -
Recommended CPU - Intel Core Ultra 5 125U or above - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU) or above
Used in CPUs - Intel Core Ultra 7 251HX
- Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
- Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
- Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
- Intel Core Ultra 5 225U
- Intel Core Ultra 5 235U
- Intel Core Ultra 7 255U
- and 12 more
- Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)
Laptop GPU ranking (96th and 6th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 300 MHz -
Boost Clock 1750-2000 MHz (configurable) 1620 MHz
Shading Units 512 5120
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 32 320
Render Output Units (ROPs) 16 160
Compute Units (Pipelines) 64 640
Ray-tracing Cores 4 -
L1 Cache 768KB shared -
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 28-32 GPixel/s 259 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 56-64 GTexel/s 518 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
1.8-2 TFLOPS
16.6 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Ring Bus Custom
TGP 14 W -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 5 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count - 28 billion
Max. Temperature - 100°C

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock - 9600 MHz
Bus - 512-bit
ECC - No
Memory Bandwidth

API

DirectX 12 -
Vulkan 1.3 -
OpenGL 4.6 -
OpenCL 3.0 -
Ray Tracing Yes Yes
DLSS No No
DisplayPort 2.1 -

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