Apple A17 Pro vs Intel Core i7-9700K

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A17 Pro CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-9700K
Apple A17 Pro Intel Core i7-9700K

CPU comparison

Apple A17 Pro or Intel Core i7-9700K - 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 Apple A17 Pro has 6 cores with 6 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.78 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A17 Pro was released in Q3/2023.

The Intel Core i7-9700K has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.90 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-9700K was released in Q4/2018.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i7 (298)
Apple A17 (1) CPU group Intel Core i 9000 (34)
17 Generation 9
A17 Architecture Coffee Lake S Refresh
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple A16 Bionic Predecessor Intel Core i7-8700K
-- Successor Intel Core i7-10700K

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A17 Pro is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.78 GHz. The Intel Core i7-9700K has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.60 GHz (4.90 GHz).

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i7-9700K
6 Cores 8
6 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? Yes
3.78 GHz A-Core 3.60 GHz (4.90 GHz)
2.11 GHz B-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

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. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i7-9700K
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Apple A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630
1.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.35 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.20 GHz
-- GPU Generation 9.5
3 nm Technology 14 nm
3 Max. displays 3
24 Compute units 24
768 Shader 192
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 64 GB
-- DirectX Version 12

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.

Apple A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630
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 / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A17 Pro supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-9700K can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i7-9700K
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR4-2666
8 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 42.7 GB/s
No ECC No
20.00 MB L2 Cache --
24.00 MB L3 Cache 12.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 16
-- PCIe Bandwidth 15.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A17 Pro has a TDP of 11 W, that of the Intel Core i7-9700K is 95 W.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i7-9700K
11 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 95 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A17 Pro has a 44.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i7-9700K cache has a total of 12.00 MB.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i7-9700K
3 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8.6-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket LGA 1151-2
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2023 Release date Q4/2018
-- Release price 520 $
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A17 Pro to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.0 stars (70 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K (58%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (90%)
Intel Core i7-9700K (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
2140 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
1302 (61%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
5868 (79%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
7421 (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
2952 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
1589 (54%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
7462 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
7361 (99%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
Apple A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) @ 1.40 GHz
2147 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
Intel UHD Graphics 630 @ 1.20 GHz
461 (21%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
74 (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
532 (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
1336 (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
10326 (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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
481 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
3656 (100%)

AnTuTu 10 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 10 benchmark is one of the best-known benchmarks for mobile processors, which is now available in version 10. There is a version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as a version for Apple mobile devices, i.e. iPhones and iPads.

The Antutu 10 benchmark has 3 phases. In the first phase, the device's RAM is tested, in phase 2 the graphics are tested and in the final phase the entire device is pushed to its performance limits by rendering 3D graphics.

Antutu 10 is therefore ideal for comparing the performance of different devices.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
1488440 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
1108570 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 3.60 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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
134 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
14555 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
217.1 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
549 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
4167 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.90 GHz
214 (100%)

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.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 4.60 GHz
1520 (100%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

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).
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
35 (100%)
Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i7-9700K
8C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A17 Pro Intel Core i7-9700K
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Memory PC Intel i7-9700K
Memory PC Aufrüst-Kit Bundle i7-9700K
Megaport High End Gaming-PC Intel Core i7-9700K

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