Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-7920X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-7920X
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Intel Core i9-7920X

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-7920X and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) 20 core processor released in Q1/2022 with the Intel Core i9-7920X which has 12 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2017.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple M1 (9) CPU group Intel Core i 7000X (9)
1 Generation 7
M1 Architecture Skylake X
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Successor Intel Core i9-9920X

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) is a 20 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz). The processor can compute 20 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i9-7920X clocks with 2.90 GHz (4.30 GHz), has 12 CPU cores and can calculate 24 threads in parallel.

Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-7920X
20 Cores 12
20 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
16x Firestorm
A-Core 2.90 GHz (4.30 GHz)
0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
4x Icestorm
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 M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-7920X
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
32 Neural cores @ 22 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

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.

Apple M1 Ultra (48 Core) GPU no iGPU
0.39 GHz GPU frequency --
1.30 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
1 GPU Generation --
5 nm Technology
5 Max. displays
768 Compute units --
6144 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 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 M1 Ultra (48 Core) GPU no iGPU
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
Decode / Encode 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

Up to 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 8 memory channels is supported by the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU), while the Intel Core i9-7920X supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 85.4 GB/s enabled.

Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-7920X
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR4-2666
128 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
8 (Octa Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
819.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 85.4 GB/s
No ECC No
52.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 16.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 44
-- PCIe Bandwidth 43.3 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) has a TDP of 60 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i9-7920X is 165 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-7920X
60 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 165 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
120 W TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) has 52.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 5 nm. The cache of Intel Core i9-7920X is at 16.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-7920X
5 nm Technology 14 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, AVX-512
-- Socket LGA 2066
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
macOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2022 Release date Q3/2017
-- Release price 1189 $
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Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X (61%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X (49%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1793 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
1133 (63%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24055 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 GHz
11498 (48%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
1410 (59%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
23970 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 GHz
9881 (41%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
41059 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 GHz
23625 (58%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
114 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1624 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24189 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 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.
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
Apple M1 Ultra (48 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
15900 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
@ 0.00 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 M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
379 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 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.
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 GHz
120.9 (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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 0.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 2.90 GHz
6200 (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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 4.30 GHz
188 (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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 3.70 GHz
2438 (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 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 0.60 GHz
22 (100%)
Intel Core i9-7920X Intel Core i9-7920X
12C 24T @ 2.90 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Intel Core i9-7920X
Apple Mac Studio (2022) Unknown

News and articles for the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-7920X


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