AMD Ryzen 5 2600X vs Apple M3 (8-GPU)

Last updated: 2024-03-11

CPU comparison with benchmarks


AMD Ryzen 5 2600X		Apple M3 (8-GPU)
CPU comparison In this CPU comparison, we compare the AMD Ryzen 5 2600X and the Apple M3 (8-GPU) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster. We compare the AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6 core processor released in Q2/2018 with the Apple M3 (8-GPU) which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2023.

AMD Ryzen 5 (86)	Family	Apple M series (25)
AMD Ryzen 2000 (9)	CPU group	Apple M3 (6)
2	Generation	3
Pinnacle Ridge (Zen+)	Architecture	M3
Desktop / Server	Segment	Mobile
--	Predecessor	Apple M2 (8-GPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X	Successor	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.60 GHz (4.20 GHz). The processor can compute 12 threads at the same time. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) clocks with 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Characteristic	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
6	Cores	8
12	Threads	8
normal	Core architecture	hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes	Hyperthreading	No
Yes	Overclocking ?	No
3.60 GHz (4.20 GHz)	A-Core	0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) 4x P-Core
--	B-Core	0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz) 4x E-Core

NPU AI performance The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Characteristic	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
--	AI hardware	Apple Neural Engine
--	AI specifications	16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS
--	NPU + CPU + iGPU	--

Integrated graphics (iGPU) Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.
no iGPU	GPU	Apple M3 (8 Core)
	GPU frequency	0.39 GHz
--	GPU (Turbo)	1.40 GHz
--	GPU Generation	--
	Technology	3 nm
	Max. displays	2
--	Compute units	128
--	Shader	1024
No	Hardware Raytracing	Yes
No	Frame Generation	No
--	Max. GPU Memory	24 GB
--	DirectX Version	--

Hardware codec support A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.
no iGPU	GPU	Apple M3 (8 Core)
No	Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit)	Decode / Encode
No	Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit)	Decode / Encode
No	Codec h264	Decode / Encode
No	Codec VP9	Decode / Encode
No	Codec VP8	Decode
No	Codec AV1	Decode
No	Codec AVC	Decode
No	Codec VC-1	Decode
No	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe Up to 64 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, while the Apple M3 (8-GPU) supports a maximum of 24 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Characteristic	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
DDR4-2933	Memory	LPDDR5-6400
64 GB	Max. Memory	24 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
46.9 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	102.4 GB/s
Yes	ECC	No
--	L2 Cache	20.00 MB
16.00 MB	L3 Cache	--
3.0	PCIe version	4.0
20	PCIe lanes	--
19.7 GB/s	PCIe Bandwidth	--
Thermal Management The AMD Ryzen 5 2600X has a TDP of 95 W. The TDP of the Apple M3 (8-GPU) is 22 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Characteristic	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
95 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	22 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	10 W
95 °C	Tjunction max.	100 °C
Technical details The AMD Ryzen 5 2600X has 16.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 12 nm. The cache of Apple M3 (8-GPU) is at 20.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 3 nm.

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Characteristic	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
12 nm	Technology	3 nm
Chiplet	Chip design	Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3	ISA extensions	Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
AM4 (PGA 1331)	Socket	--
AMD-V, SVM	Virtualization	Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux	Operating systems	macOS, iPadOS
Q2/2018	Release date	Q4/2023
220 $	Release price	--

show more data		show more data

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz (4.20 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X (48%)

Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X (61%)

Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	66 (48%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	137 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	455 (69%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	659 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	1074 (55%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	1965 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	7514 (72%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10437 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	1052 (49%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	2150 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	5782 (55%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10450 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	1287 (41%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	3125 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	5598 (47%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	11863 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	421 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	3048 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X @ 0.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz	2840 (100%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	109 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	13982 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	278.4 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	446 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz	3593 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz	176 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 4.00 GHz	1380 (100%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.60 GHz	0 (0%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 10,437 CB R23 MC @ 22 W	474 (100%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).


	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz	0 (0%)
	Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	35 (100%)

Devices using this processor
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X	Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Memory Gaming PC mit Ryzen 5 2600X Memory PC Aufrüstkit mit Ryzen 5 2600X dercomputerladen PC mit Ryzen 5 2600X	Apple iMac 24 (2023)

News and articles for the AMD Ryzen 5 2600X and the Apple M3 (8-GPU)

The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors

Posted by Stefan on 2022-09-06

The AMD Ryzen processors are designed for the mid to high-end range and are grouped into the Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 classes. AMD follows the market leader Intel, which groups its Core i series (Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9) identically.

The AMD Ryzen processors were first introduced by AMD in Q1 2017. They are the successor to the not particularly successful AMD Bulldozer processors. The latter were manufactured using an outdated manufacturing process and could not keep up with the competing products from Intel. AMD lost a large portion of its desktop processor market share during this period.

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