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Apple M3 vs Intel Core i7-990X
Last updated:
Benchmarks
Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks
Single-core performance
Multi-core performance
Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M3
100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
Intel Core i7-990X
21 %
6C / 12T · 3.73 GHz
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M3
100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
Intel Core i7-990X
27 %
6C / 12T · 3.46 GHz
Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M3
100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
Intel Core i7-990X
30 %
6C / 12T · 3.73 GHz
Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M3
100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
Intel Core i7-990X
36 %
6C / 12T · 3.46 GHz
More benchmarks
Cinebench 2026 (ST)
218 entries
218 entries
Cinebench 2026 (MC)
219 entries
219 entries
Cinebench 2024 (SC)
427 entries
427 entries
Cinebench 2024 (MC)
422 entries
422 entries
Cinebench R23 (SC)
690 entries
690 entries
Cinebench R23 (MC)
665 entries
665 entries
Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,989 entries
1,989 entries
Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,927 entries
1,927 entries
Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,512 entries
2,512 entries
Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,483 entries
2,483 entries
FP32 SP (iGPU)
2,219 entries
2,219 entries
PassMark CPU-Mark
2,504 entries
2,504 entries
CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (MC)
751 entries
751 entries
CPU performance per watt (efficiency)
140 entries
140 entries
AI performance (NPU)
218 entries
218 entries
Specifications
At a glance
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Apple M series (38) | Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24) |
| CPU group | Apple M3 (6) | Intel Core i7 900 (4) |
| Architecture | M3 | Gulftown |
| Technology | 3 nm | 32 nm |
| Segment | Notebook | Desktop |
| Socket | LGA 1366 | |
| Predecessor | Apple M2 | |
| Successor | Apple M4 |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores / Threads | 8 / 8 | 6 / 12 |
| Hyperthreading / SMT | ✗ | ✓ |
| Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) | normal |
| Core Cluster 1: | 4x Ibiza P-Core 0.70 - 4.06 GHz |
6x 3.46 - 3.73 GHz |
| Core Cluster 2: | 4x Ibiza E-Core 0.74 - 2.75 GHz |
|
| L2-Cache | 20.00 MB | 1.50 MB |
| L3-Cache | 12.00 MB | |
| Overclocking | ✗ | ✓ |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| GPU name | Apple M3 (10 Core) | no iGPU |
| GPU frequency | 0.39 - 1.40 GHz | |
| CUs / Shader | 160 / 1280 | / |
| Raytracing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Max. displays | 2 | |
| Max. GPU Memory | 24 GB | |
| Technology | 3 nm | |
| Release date | Q4/2023 |
NPU AI performance
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine | |
| AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS | |
| NPU + CPU + iGPU |
Memory & PCIe
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | LPDDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s) | DDR3-1066 (25.6 GB/s) |
| Max. Memory | 24 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory channels | 2 | 3 |
| ECC | No | No |
| PCIe | 4.0 | |
| PCIe Bandwidth |
Thermal Management
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 22 W | 130 W |
| TDP (PL2) | ||
| TDP up | ||
| TDP down | 15 W | |
| T. junction max. | 100 °C |
Technical details
|
Wischen
|
Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-990X |
|---|---|---|
| Chip design | Monolithic | Monolithic |
| AES-NI | ✓ | ✗ |
| Operating systems | macOS, iPadOS | Windows 10, Linux |
| Instruction set | Armv8-A (64 bit) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions | Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation | SSE4.1, SSE4.2 |
| Release date | Q4/2023 | Q1/2011 |
| Release price | 1059 $ | |
| Documents | Technical data sheet |
User Reviews
Your rating
Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Apple M3 is 4.6 stars (1638 ratings), while Intel Core i7-990X has received 4.6 stars (12 ratings).
Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.
Most popular CPUs in both categories
1
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 32-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
2
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 40-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
3
Apple M3 Ultra (28-CPU 60-GPU)
28C / 28T · 4.06 GHz
4
Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
5
Apple M3 Ultra (32-CPU 80-GPU)
32C / 32T · 4.06 GHz
6
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C / 20T · 3.20 GHz
7
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C / 20T · 3.20 GHz
8
Apple M3
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
9
Intel Core i7-990X
6C / 12T · 3.73 GHz
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