Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900K

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-12900K
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900K

CPU comparison

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) or Intel Core i9-12900K - 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 M1 Max (32-GPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. Up to 64 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.

The Intel Core i9-12900K has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900K was released in Q4/2021.
Apple M series (23) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple M1 (9) CPU group Intel Core i 12000 (34)
1 Generation 12
M1 Architecture Alder Lake S
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor Intel Core i9-11900K
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Successor Intel Core i9-13900K

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) is a 10 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz). The Intel Core i9-12900K has 16 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.20 GHz (5.20 GHz).

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900K
10 Cores 16
10 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
8x Firestorm
A-Core 3.20 GHz (5.20 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
2x Icestorm
B-Core 2.40 GHz (3.90 GHz)
8x Gracemont

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900K
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 11 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 M1 Max (32 Core) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
0.39 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
1.30 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.55 GHz
1 GPU Generation 11
5 nm Technology 10 nm
5 Max. displays 3
512 Compute units 32
4096 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 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 M1 Max (32 Core) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
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 Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 Decode
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900K can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900K
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
64 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
409.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
28.00 MB L2 Cache 14.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 30.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 5.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has a TDP of 45 W, that of the Intel Core i9-12900K is 125 W.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900K
45 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 125 W
-- TDP (PL2) 241 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has a 28.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i9-12900K cache has a total of 44.00 MB.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900K
5 nm Technology 10 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8.5-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
-- Socket LGA 1700
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
macOS Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2021 Release date Q4/2021
-- Release price 589 $
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
112 (89%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
126 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
796 (50%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1582 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (77%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1997 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12402 (45%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
27472 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1783 (90%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1990 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12693 (72%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
17595 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (94%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
2560 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12439 (77%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
16244 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
Apple M1 Max (32 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
10600 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (7%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
192 (53%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
364 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
22255 (54%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
40902 (100%)

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.
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
12,402 CB R23 MC @ 45 W
275 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
27,472 CB R23 MC @ 240 W
114 (42%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
779 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
10511 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
817 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 3.20 GHz
11365 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
294 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
4111 (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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
11 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900K
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)
Unknown

News and articles for the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-12900K

First Geekbench 5 benchmark of the Intel Core i7-13700K
First Geekbench 5 benchmark of the Intel Core i7-13700K
Posted by Stefan on 2022-07-26
Last week we already reported on the new Intel Core i7-13700K processor from Intel, which is expected in autumn 2022. With 8+8 CPU cores (24 threads), the Intel Core i7-13700K should have the same configuration as last year's Intel Core i9-12900K. With this, Intel wants to finally clear AMD's lead in multi-core performance, which has existed for several years.
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-28
After Apple surprisingly presented the normal Apple M2 processor as the first successor to the Apple M1 already in June 2022, the Apple M2 Pro and the Apple M2 Max may follow in autumn. The difference in performance compared to the basic version could be even greater this time and range from 25 to 40 percent.

In this article we describe how Apple could realize this and why the price should also go up.
Intel Core i9-13900 benchmark of engineering sample
Intel Core i9-13900 benchmark of engineering sample
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-15
Intels 13th generation of the Intel Core i series (Raptor Lake) is about to be released and a lot of information is already known from the official side. This information includes e.g. the number of CPU cores, the expected increase in performance and the manufacturing technology of the new CPUs.

We compare the technical data of the Intel Core i9-13900 with its predecessor and look at benchmarks that have already been published.
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-09
During WWDC 2022 on June 6th, 2022 Apple surprisingly presented its new Apple M2 processor. This will initially be installed in a completely revised Apple MacBook Air with 13.6 inches, a even thinner form factor and new colors. Apple also updated the already known (old) Apple MacBook Pro 13.3 with touch bar.

Many leakers had counted on Apple not presenting its new second-generation M processor until the fall. But things turned out differently. And there is very likely a reason for that: the improvements in the Apple M2 are limited compared to the predecessor.

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