Apple M3 vs AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

Last updated: 2024-03-22

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3		AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
CPU comparison Apple M3 or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D - 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 M3 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.06 GHz. Up to 24 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple M3 was released in Q4/2023. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D has 16 cores with 32 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.70 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D was released in Q1/2023.

Apple M series (25)	Family	AMD Ryzen 9 (35)
Apple M3 (6)	CPU group	AMD Ryzen 7000 (14)
3	Generation	6
M3	Architecture	Raphael (Zen 4)
Mobile	Segment	Desktop / Server
Apple M2	Predecessor	--
Apple M4	Successor	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Apple M3 has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple M3 is 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D has 16 CPU cores and 32 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is at 4.20 GHz (5.70 GHz).
Apple M3	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
8	Cores	16
8	Threads	32
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	No
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) 4x P-Core	A-Core	4.20 GHz (5.70 GHz) 16x Zen 4
0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz) 4x E-Core	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 M3	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Apple Neural Engine	AI hardware	--
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The Apple M3 or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 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 M3 (10 Core)	GPU	AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael)
0.39 GHz	GPU frequency	0.40 GHz
1.40 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	2.20 GHz
3	GPU Generation	9
3 nm	Technology	5 nm
2	Max. displays	3
160	Compute units	2
1280	Shader	128
Yes	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
24 GB	Max. GPU Memory	8 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 M3 (10 Core)	GPU	AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael)
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
Decode	Codec AV1	Decode
Decode	Codec AVC	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VC-1	Decode
Decode / Encode	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe The Apple M3 can use up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 102.4 GB/s. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 83.2 GB/s.
Apple M3	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
LPDDR5-6400	Memory	DDR5-5200
24 GB	Max. Memory	128 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
102.4 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	83.2 GB/s
No	ECC	Yes
20.00 MB	L2 Cache	16.00 MB
--	L3 Cache	128.00 MB
4.0	PCIe version	5.0
--	PCIe lanes	24
--	PCIe Bandwidth	94.5 GB/s
Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple M3 is 22 W, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D has a TDP of 120 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Apple M3	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
22 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	120 W
--	TDP (PL2)	162 W
--	TDP up	--
15 W	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	89 °C
Technical details The Apple M3 is manufactured in 3 nm and has 20.00 MB cache. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 144.00 MB cache.
Apple M3	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
3 nm	Technology	5 nm
Chiplet	Chip design	Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	x86-64 (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation	ISA extensions	SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2,FMA3, AVX2, AVX512
--	Socket	AM5 (LGA 1718)
Apple Virtualization Framework	Virtualization	AMD-V, SVM
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
macOS, iPadOS	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2023	Release date	Q1/2023
--	Release price	--

show more data		show more data

Apple M3 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 4.20 GHz (5.70 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (98%)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (95%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (39%)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (100%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	137 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz	121 (88%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	659 (31%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz	2108 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	1965 (96%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz	2043 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10437 (27%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.00 GHz	38581 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	2150 (97%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz	2223 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10450 (45%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.00 GHz	23460 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	3125 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz	2906 (93%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	11863 (61%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.00 GHz	19479 (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 M3 Apple M3 (10 Core) @ 1.40 GHz	3550 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael) @ 2.20 GHz	563 (16%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	18951 (30%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 5.00 GHz	64125 (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 M3 10,437 CB R23 MC @ 22 W	474 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 38,581 CB R23 MC @ 136 W	284 (60%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	35 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 4.20 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Apple M3	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Apple iMac 24 (2023)	Unknown

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