AMD Ryzen 5 3500U vs Apple M3 (8-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M3 (8-GPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Apple M3 (8-GPU)

CPU comparison

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U or Apple M3 (8-GPU) - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U was released in Q1/2019.

The Apple M3 (8-GPU) has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.06 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) was released in Q4/2023.
AMD Ryzen 5 (86) Family Apple M series (25)
AMD Ryzen 3000U (10) CPU group Apple M3 (6)
2 Generation 3
Picasso (Zen+) Architecture M3
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple M2 (8-GPU)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U is 2.10 GHz (3.70 GHz) while the Apple M3 (8-GPU) has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M3 (8-GPU) is at 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz).

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
4 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.10 GHz (3.70 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 3500U Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U or Apple M3 (8-GPU) has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Raven Ridge) GPU Apple M3 (8 Core)
1.20 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
8 GPU Generation --
14 nm Technology 3 nm
3 Max. displays 2
8 Compute units 128
512 Shader 1024
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 24 GB
12 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.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Raven Ridge) GPU Apple M3 (8 Core)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U can use up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 38.4 GB/s. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 102.4 GB/s.

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
DDR4-2400 Memory LPDDR5-6400
32 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
38.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
Yes ECC No
-- L2 Cache 20.00 MB
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version 4.0
12 PCIe lanes --
11.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U is 15 W, while the Apple M3 (8-GPU) has a TDP of 22 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 22 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
35 W TDP up --
12 W TDP down 10 W
105 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U is manufactured in 12 nm and has 4.00 MB cache. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) is manufactured in 3 nm and has a 20.00 MB cache.

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U 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
FP5 Socket --
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q1/2019 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.4 stars (12 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M3 (8-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (71 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U (37%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U (30%)
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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
53 (39%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
228 (35%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
876 (45%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
3544 (34%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
727 (34%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
2579 (25%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
976 (31%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
2907 (25%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
11863 (100%)

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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Raven Ridge) @ 1.20 GHz
1229 (43%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Apple M3 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
2840 (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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
360 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
1483 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
0 (0%)

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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
33 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
7020 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
574.1 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
350 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 2.10 GHz
1647 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz
141 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
620 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
2.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) 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 3500U AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
4C 8T @ 2.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)

Devices using this processor

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Acer Swift 3
HP 14-dk0002ng
HP 17-CA1105NG
Lenovo IdeaPad C340
Apple iMac 24 (2023)

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