Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) vs Intel Core Ultra 5 125H

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Intel Core Ultra 5 125H

CPU comparison

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) or Intel Core Ultra 5 125H - 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 Ultra 5 125H has 14 cores with 18 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 96 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H was released in Q4/2023.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Core Ultra 5 (11)
Apple M2 (8) CPU group Intel Core Ultra 100H (5)
2 Generation 1
M2 Architecture Meteor Lake H
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Predecessor --
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Successor --

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 Ultra 5 125H has 14 CPU cores and 18 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is at 1.20 GHz (4.50 GHz).

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
12 Cores 14
12 Threads 18
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz)
8x Avalanche
A-Core 1.20 GHz (4.50 GHz)
4x Redwood Cove
0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz)
4x Blizzard
B-Core 0.70 GHz (3.60 GHz)
8x Crestmont
-- C-Core 0.70 GHz (2.50 GHz)
2x Crestmont

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware Intel® AI Boost
16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS AI specifications Intel AI Boost @ 1.4 GHz (OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT)
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) or Intel Core Ultra 5 125H 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 Iris Xe 7 Core Graphics 112 EUs (Meteor Lake)
0.45 GHz GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) 2.20 GHz
2 GPU Generation --
5 nm Technology 5 nm
5 Max. displays 4
480 Compute units 112
3840 Shader 896
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
96 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.2

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 Iris Xe 7 Core Graphics 112 EUs (Meteor Lake)
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
Decode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 Decode / Encode
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 Ultra 5 125H supports up to 96 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 120.0 GB/s.

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR5X-7500, DDR5-5600
96 GB Max. Memory 96 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
409.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 120.0 GB/s
No ECC No
36.00 MB L2 Cache 14.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 18.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 5.0
32 PCIe lanes 20
63.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 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 Ultra 5 125H has a TDP of 28 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
45 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 28 W
-- TDP (PL2) 115 W
-- TDP up 65 W
-- TDP down 20 W
100 °C Tjunction max. 110 °C

Technical details

The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has 36.00 MB cache. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is manufactured in 7 nm and has a 32.00 MB cache.

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
5 nm Technology 7 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
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 2049
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
macOS, iPadOS Operating systems Windows 11, Linux
Q1/2023 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (17 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.3 stars (63 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (89%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (79%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
121 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
100 (83%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1025 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
847 (83%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1695 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
1692 (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 M2 Max (30-GPU) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
14855 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
14771 (99%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1874 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
1643 (88%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
15506 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
10765 (69%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
2689 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
2256 (84%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
14207 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
10239 (72%)

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-GPU)
Apple M2 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
10650 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
Intel Iris Xe 7 Core Graphics 112 EUs (Meteor Lake) @ 2.20 GHz
4 (0%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
26310 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 4.50 GHz
18813 (72%)

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
14,855 CB R23 MC @ 40 W
371 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14,771 CB R23 MC @ 66 W
224 (60%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

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) Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz
15.8 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
14C 18T @ 1.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Unknown

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