Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-12900
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900

CPU comparison

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) or Intel Core i9-12900 - 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 Ultra (64-GPU) has 20 cores with 20 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 8 memory channels. The Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) was released in Q1/2022.

The Intel Core i9-12900 has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.10 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900 was released in Q1/2022.
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 i9-11900
Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU) Successor Intel Core i9-13900

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) has 20 CPU cores and can calculate 20 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) is 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz) while the Intel Core i9-12900 has 16 CPU cores and 24 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-12900 is at 2.40 GHz (5.10 GHz).

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
20 Cores 16
20 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
16x Firestorm
A-Core 2.40 GHz (5.10 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
4x Icestorm
B-Core 1.80 GHz (3.80 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 Ultra (64-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
32 Neural cores @ 22 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) or Intel Core i9-12900 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 M1 Ultra (64 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
1024 Compute units 32
8192 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 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 Ultra (64 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 Ultra (64-GPU) can use up to 128 GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 819.2 GB/s. The Intel Core i9-12900 supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 76.8 GB/s.

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
128 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
8 (Octa Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
819.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
52.00 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 thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) is 60 W, while the Intel Core i9-12900 has a TDP of 65 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
60 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) 202 W
120 W TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has 52.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i9-12900 is manufactured in 10 nm and has a 44.00 MB cache.

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
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
Q1/2022 Release date Q1/2022
-- Release price 489 $
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (77%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
1988 (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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24189 (91%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
26455 (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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1793 (91%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
1968 (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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24055 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
15712 (65%)

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (91%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
2637 (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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
23970 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
15367 (64%)

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
Apple M1 Ultra (64 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
21200 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (4%)

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
41059 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
36739 (89%)

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
114 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1624 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
764 (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 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
10097 (100%)

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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
379 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 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.
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
287 (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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
3911 (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 (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 0.60 GHz
22 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900
Apple Mac Studio (2022) Unknown

News and articles for the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-12900

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.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-10
We give you a preview of AMD's new Zen 4 desktop processors and calculate the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X top model for the new AM5 socket. The performance data and other technical details come directly from the press kit that AMD released as part of its Financial Analyst Day on June 9, 2022.

Up to 15 percent more single-core performance and 35 percent more multi-core performance of the 16-core model are realistic !
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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