Apple M3 (8-GPU) vs AMD Ryzen 9 3950X

Last updated: 2024-03-11

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 (8-GPU)		AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
CPU comparison Apple M3 (8-GPU) or AMD Ryzen 9 3950X - 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 (8-GPU) 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 (8-GPU) was released in Q4/2023. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X has 16 cores with 32 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.70 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X was released in Q3/2019.

Apple M series (25)	Family	AMD Ryzen 9 (38)
Apple M3 (6)	CPU group	AMD Ryzen 3000 (15)
3	Generation	3
M3	Architecture	Matisse (Zen 2)
Mobile	Segment	Desktop / Server
Apple M2 (8-GPU)	Predecessor	--
--	Successor	AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Apple M3 (8-GPU) is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz). The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X has 16 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.50 GHz (4.70 GHz).
Apple M3 (8-GPU)	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
8	Cores	16
8	Threads	32
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	Yes
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) 4x P-Core	A-Core	3.50 GHz (4.70 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 (8-GPU)	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
Apple Neural Engine	AI hardware	--
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.
Apple M3 (8 Core)	GPU	no iGPU
0.39 GHz	GPU frequency	--
1.40 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	--
--	GPU Generation	--
3 nm	Technology
2	Max. displays
128	Compute units	--
1024	Shader	--
Yes	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
24 GB	Max. GPU Memory	--
--	DirectX Version	--

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 (8 Core)	GPU	no iGPU
Decode / Encode	Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit)	No
Decode / Encode	Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit)	No
Decode / Encode	Codec h264	No
Decode / Encode	Codec VP9	No
Decode	Codec VP8	No
Decode	Codec AV1	No
Decode	Codec AVC	No
Decode	Codec VC-1	No
Decode / Encode	Codec JPEG	No

Memory & PCIe The Apple M3 (8-GPU) supports a maximum of 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.
Apple M3 (8-GPU)	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
LPDDR5-6400	Memory	DDR4-3200
24 GB	Max. Memory	128 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
102.4 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	51.2 GB/s
No	ECC	Yes
20.00 MB	L2 Cache	--
--	L3 Cache	64.00 MB
4.0	PCIe version	4.0
--	PCIe lanes	20
--	PCIe Bandwidth	39.4 GB/s
Thermal Management The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) has a TDP of 22 W, that of the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X is 105 W.
Apple M3 (8-GPU)	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
22 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	105 W
--	TDP (PL2)	142 W
--	TDP up	--
10 W	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	95 °C
Technical details The Apple M3 (8-GPU) has a 20.00 MB cache, while the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X cache has a total of 64.00 MB.
Apple M3 (8-GPU)	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
3 nm	Technology	7 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, AVX2, FMA3
--	Socket	AM4 (PGA 1331)
Apple Virtualization Framework	Virtualization	AMD-V, SVM
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
macOS, iPadOS	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2023	Release date	Q3/2019
--	Release price	650 $

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Apple M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 3.50 GHz (4.70 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (61%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Apple M3 (8-GPU) (67%)

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	137 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	74 (54%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	659 (50%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	1325 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	1965 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	1371 (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 M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10437 (43%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	24050 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	2150 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	1408 (65%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	10450 (73%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	14322 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	3125 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	1697 (54%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	11863 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	11830 (100%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	531 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	9148 (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 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz	2840 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X @ 0.00 GHz	0 (0%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	384 (100%)

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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	39079 (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 M3 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	85.4 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	523 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 3.50 GHz	10761 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.70 GHz	217 (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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 4.00 GHz	3897 (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 (8-GPU) 10,437 CB R23 MC @ 22 W	474 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.50 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 (8-GPU) 8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz	35 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T @ 3.50 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Apple M3 (8-GPU)	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
Apple iMac 24 (2023)	Memory PC High End Gaming PC AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Kiebel Gamer-PC Loki [184903]

News and articles for the Apple M3 (8-GPU) and the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X

The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors

Posted by Stefan on 2022-09-06

The AMD Ryzen processors are designed for the mid to high-end range and are grouped into the Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 classes. AMD follows the market leader Intel, which groups its Core i series (Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9) identically.

The AMD Ryzen processors were first introduced by AMD in Q1 2017. They are the successor to the not particularly successful AMD Bulldozer processors. The latter were manufactured using an outdated manufacturing process and could not keep up with the competing products from Intel. AMD lost a large portion of its desktop processor market share during this period.

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