Apple M3 vs Intel Core i5-8259U

Last updated: 2024-03-22

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3		Intel Core i5-8259U
CPU comparison Apple M3 or Intel Core i5-8259U - 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 Intel Core i5-8259U has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.80 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-8259U was released in Q2/2018.

Apple M series (25)	Family	Intel Core i5 (331)
Apple M3 (6)	CPU group	Intel Core i 8000U (8)
3	Generation	8
M3	Architecture	Coffee Lake U
Mobile	Segment	Mobile
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 Intel Core i5-8259U has 4 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i5-8259U is at 2.30 GHz (3.80 GHz).
Apple M3	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8259U
8	Cores	4
8	Threads	8
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	No
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) 4x P-Core	A-Core	2.30 GHz (3.80 GHz)
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	Intel Core i5-8259U
Apple Neural Engine	AI hardware	--
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The Apple M3 or Intel Core i5-8259U 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	Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
0.39 GHz	GPU frequency	0.30 GHz
1.40 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	1.05 GHz
3	GPU Generation	9.5
3 nm	Technology	14 nm
2	Max. displays	3
160	Compute units	48
1280	Shader	384
Yes	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
24 GB	Max. GPU Memory	32 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	Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
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	No
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 Intel Core i5-8259U supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 38.4 GB/s.
Apple M3	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8259U
LPDDR5-6400	Memory	DDR4-2400
24 GB	Max. Memory	32 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
102.4 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	38.4 GB/s
No	ECC	No
20.00 MB	L2 Cache	--
--	L3 Cache	6.00 MB
4.0	PCIe version	3.0
--	PCIe lanes	16
--	PCIe Bandwidth	15.8 GB/s
Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple M3 is 22 W, while the Intel Core i5-8259U has a TDP of 28 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Apple M3	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8259U
22 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	28 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
15 W	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	--
Technical details The Apple M3 is manufactured in 3 nm and has 20.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i5-8259U is manufactured in 14 nm and has a 6.00 MB cache.
Apple M3	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8259U
3 nm	Technology	14 nm
Chiplet	Chip design	Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	x86-64 (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation	ISA extensions	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
--	Socket	BGA 1528
Apple Virtualization Framework	Virtualization	VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
macOS, iPadOS	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2023	Release date	Q2/2018
--	Release price	--

show more data		show more data

Apple M3 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz (3.80 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

Rate these processors

Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (100%)

Intel Core i5-8259U (45%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (100%)

Intel Core i5-8259U (41%)

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%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	58 (42%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	255 (39%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	1079 (55%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	4986 (48%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	973 (45%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	3983 (38%)

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%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	1167 (37%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	4316 (36%)

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%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 @ 1.05 GHz	806 (23%)

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 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	8061 (43%)

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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	377 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	1684 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	52 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	2058 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	162 (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 M3 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz	774 (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%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 2.30 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 M3 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	35 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8259U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Apple M3	Intel Core i5-8259U
Apple iMac 24 (2023)	Unknown

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs


1.		Apple M3 vs Intel Core i9-13900H
2.		Apple M1 vs Apple M3
3.		Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
4.		Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
5.		Apple M3 vs Apple M2 (8-GPU)
6.		Apple M2 vs Apple M3
7.		Apple M3 vs Intel Core i9-14900K
8.		Apple M3 vs Intel Core i9-13900K
9.		Apple M3 vs Intel Core i7-12850HX
10.		Intel Core i5-10210U vs Intel Core i5-8259U