Apple A9X vs AMD EPYC 7643

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A9X CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD EPYC 7643
Apple A9X AMD EPYC 7643

CPU comparison

Apple A9X or AMD EPYC 7643 - 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 A9X has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.26 GHz. Up to 4 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple A9X was released in Q3/2015.

The AMD EPYC 7643 has 48 cores with 96 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.60 GHz. The CPU supports up to 4096 GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The AMD EPYC 7643 was released in Q1/2021.
Apple A series (22) Family AMD EPYC (129)
Apple A9/A9X (2) CPU group AMD EPYC 7003 (29)
9 Generation 3
A9 Architecture Milan (Zen 3)
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple A8X Predecessor AMD EPYC 7642
Apple A10X Fusion Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A9X has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple A9X is 2.26 GHz while the AMD EPYC 7643 has 48 CPU cores and 96 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the AMD EPYC 7643 is at 2.30 GHz (3.60 GHz).

Apple A9X Characteristic AMD EPYC 7643
2 Cores 48
2 Threads 96
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.26 GHz Frequency 2.30 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.60 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.40 GHz

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 A9X Characteristic AMD EPYC 7643
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Apple A9X or AMD EPYC 7643 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.

Apple A9X GPU no iGPU
0.65 GHz GPU frequency --
-- GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation --
16 nm Technology
1 Max. displays
48 Compute units --
384 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory --
-- 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.

Apple A9X GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
Decode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A9X can use up to 4 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 51.2 GB/s. The AMD EPYC 7643 supports up to 4096 GB of memory in 8 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 204.8 GB/s.

Apple A9X Characteristic AMD EPYC 7643
LPDDR4-3200 Memory DDR4-3200
4 GB Max. Memory 4096 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 8 (Octa Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 204.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
3.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache 256.00 MB
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 128
-- PCIe Bandwidth 252.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple A9X is 8 W, while the AMD EPYC 7643 has a TDP of 240 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple A9X Characteristic AMD EPYC 7643
8 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 240 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 225 W
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple A9X is manufactured in 16 nm and has 7.00 MB cache. The AMD EPYC 7643 is manufactured in 7 nm and has a 256.00 MB cache.

Apple A9X Characteristic AMD EPYC 7643
16 nm Technology 7 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
-- Socket SP3
None Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2015 Release date Q1/2021
-- Release price 4995 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9X (48%)
AMD EPYC 7643 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9X (5%)
AMD EPYC 7643 (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 A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
652 (49%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 3.60 GHz
1319 (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.
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1198 (3%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 3.40 GHz
36850 (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 A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
763 (46%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 3.60 GHz
1671 (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.
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1251 (8%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 3.40 GHz
14987 (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 A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
2501 (3%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 3.40 GHz
76440 (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.
Apple A9X Apple A9X
Apple A9X @ 0.65 GHz
499 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
272103 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7643 AMD EPYC 7643
48C 96T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A9X AMD EPYC 7643
Apple iPad Pro (1. Gen) Unknown

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