Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores) vs Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core)

We compared two integrated laptop graphics cards: the Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores) with 128 pipelines and 1024 shaders against the Apple 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 Arc iGPU (8-Cores)
Reasons to consider the Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core)
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
  • 33% higher maximum theoretical performance (6.4 vs 4.8 TFLOPS)
  • Achieves 43% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (43K vs 30K)
  • Has 2.3x more shading units (2304 vs 1024)

Benchmarks

Graphics cardsโ€™ 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 - 22637
Wild Life Extreme - 14021
Sources: 3DMark [1]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 66.6 img/sec 82.1 img/sec
Face Detection 28.4 img/sec 53.6 img/sec
Horizon Detection 0.87 Gpixels/sec 1.82 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 1.24 Gpixels/sec 2.59 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 1.82 Gpixels/sec 1.84 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.3 Gpixels/sec 0.48 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 102.4 Gpixels/sec 148.6 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 6543.8 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] โ€“ 237 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-02-22 (Catt)Steel Nomad Light2669
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-01-15 (Ak-Dev)Geekbench 6 OpenCL64108
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-08 (Anuj)Geekbench 6 OpenCL35379
Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core)
No benchmark results yet

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) 2540 5578
Image Segmentation (HP) 7387 9924
Image Super Resolution (Q) 4047 13323
Face Detection (HP) 8563 19900
Pose Estimation (Q) 11171 35730
Text Classification (SP) 819 2904
Machine Translation (HP) 2228 4985
Object Detection (SP) 2725 5496
Depth Estimation (Q) 7794 23344
Style Transfer (SP) 34572 78342
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 (8-Cores) and Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core)

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released December 14, 2023 October 31, 2023
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Generic Professional
Segment Mid-range Mid-range
Architecture Xe LPG Apple M GPU
GPU Codename - Custom
Rival Equivalent - Radeon 760M - GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
Successor - Intel Arc 140V - Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Recommended CPU - Intel Core Ultra 5 135H or above - Apple M3 Pro or above
Used in CPUs - Intel Core Ultra 5 135H
- Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
- Intel Core Ultra 7 165H
- Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
- Apple M3 Pro
Laptop GPU ranking (84th and 60th place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
Boost Clock 2200-2350 MHz (configurable) 1380 MHz
Shading Units 1024 2304
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 64 144
Render Output Units (ROPs) 32 72
Compute Units (Pipelines) 128 288
Ray-tracing Cores 8 -
L1 Cache 1536KB shared -
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 70-75 GPixel/s 99 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 141-150 GTexel/s 199 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
4.5-4.8 TFLOPS
6.4 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Ring Bus Custom
TGP 28 W 30 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 5 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count - 25.2 billion
Max. Temperature - 100ยฐC

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock - 6400 MHz
Effective Memory Speed - 12800 Mbps
Bus - 192-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 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two graphics cards
1 (33.3%)
2 (66.7%)
Total votes: 3

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