Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-9980HK

Last updated: 2024-04-16

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)		Intel Core i9-9980HK
CPU comparison Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) or Intel Core i9-9980HK - 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 M2 Max (30-GPU) has 12 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. Up to 96 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) was released in Q1/2023. The Intel Core i9-9980HK has 8 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-9980HK was released in Q2/2019.

Apple M series (25)	Family	Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple M2 (8)	CPU group	Intel Core i 9000H (11)
2	Generation	9
M2	Architecture	Coffee Lake H Refresh
Mobile	Segment	Mobile
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)	Predecessor	--
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)	Successor	Intel Core i9-10980HK

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) has 12 CPU cores and can calculate 12 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz) while the Intel Core i9-9980HK has 8 CPU cores and 16 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-9980HK is at 2.40 GHz (5.00 GHz).
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)	Characteristic	Intel Core i9-9980HK
12	Cores	8
12	Threads	16
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	Yes
0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz) 8x Avalanche	A-Core	2.40 GHz (5.00 GHz)
0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz) 4x Blizzard	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 M2 Max (30-GPU)	Characteristic	Intel Core i9-9980HK
Apple Neural Engine	AI hardware	--
16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) or Intel Core i9-9980HK 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 M2 Max (30 Core)	GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 630
0.45 GHz	GPU frequency	0.35 GHz
1.40 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	1.25 GHz
2	GPU Generation	9.5
5 nm	Technology	14 nm
5	Max. displays	3
480	Compute units	24
3840	Shader	192
No	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
96 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 M2 Max (30 Core)	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	Codec VP8	Decode / Encode
No	Codec AV1	No
Decode	Codec AVC	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VC-1	Decode
Decode / Encode	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) can use up to 96 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 409.6 GB/s. The Intel Core i9-9980HK supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 42.7 GB/s.
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)	Characteristic	Intel Core i9-9980HK
LPDDR5-6400	Memory	LPDDR3-2133, DDR4-2666
96 GB	Max. Memory	128 GB
4 (Quad Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
409.6 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	42.7 GB/s
No	ECC	No
36.00 MB	L2 Cache	--
--	L3 Cache	16.00 MB
4.0	PCIe version	3.0
32	PCIe lanes	16
63.0 GB/s	PCIe Bandwidth	15.8 GB/s
Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is 45 W, while the Intel Core i9-9980HK has a TDP of 45 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)	Characteristic	Intel Core i9-9980HK
45 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	45 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	100 °C
Technical details The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has 36.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i9-9980HK is manufactured in 14 nm and has a 16.00 MB cache.
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)	Characteristic	Intel Core i9-9980HK
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
--	Socket	BGA 1440
Apple Virtualization Framework	Virtualization	VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
macOS, iPadOS	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q1/2023	Release date	Q2/2019
--	Release price	580 $

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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 2.40 GHz (5.00 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) (100%)

Intel Core i9-9980HK (62%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) (100%)

Intel Core i9-9980HK (50%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	121 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	71 (59%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	1025 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	424 (41%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	1695 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1186 (70%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	14855 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	8370 (56%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	1874 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1183 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	15506 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	7301 (47%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	2689 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1492 (55%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	14207 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	6927 (49%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) Apple M2 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz	10650 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK Intel UHD Graphics 630 @ 1.25 GHz	480 (5%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	26310 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	14481 (55%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	485 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	3503 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	145 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	251.2 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 2.40 GHz	4269 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	196 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	1607 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 14,855 CB R23 MC @ 40 W	371 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 2.40 GHz	0 (0%)

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 M2 Max (30-GPU) 12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz	15.8 (100%)
	Intel Core i9-9980HK 8C 16T @ 2.40 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)	Intel Core i9-9980HK
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)	Acer ConceptD 9 Acer Predator Helios 700 Acer Predator Triton 900 Alienware m17 Aorus 17 Apple MacBook 15.4 (2019) Apple MacBook 16 (2019) Asus G703GX Asus ProArt StudioBook One Asus ROG Mothership Asus ZenBook Pro Duo Dell XPS 15 7590 Gigabyte Aero 17

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