Apple M3 (8-GPU) vs Intel Pentium B970

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 (8-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Pentium B970
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Intel Pentium B970

CPU comparison

Apple M3 (8-GPU) or Intel Pentium B970 - 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 Intel Pentium B970 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.30 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Pentium B970 was released in Q1/2012.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Pentium (150)
Apple M3 (6) CPU group Intel Pentium 900 (10)
3 Generation 3
M3 Architecture Sandy Bridge U
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Predecessor --
-- Successor --

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 Intel Pentium B970 has 2 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.30 GHz.
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Characteristic Intel Pentium B970
8 Cores 2
8 Threads 2
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
4x P-Core		 A-Core 2.30 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 Intel Pentium B970
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 Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
0.39 GHz GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.15 GHz
-- GPU Generation 6
3 nm Technology 32 nm
2 Max. displays 2
128 Compute units 6
1024 Shader 48
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
24 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
-- DirectX Version 10.1

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 Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode Codec VP8 No
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
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 Intel Pentium B970 can connect up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Characteristic Intel Pentium B970
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
24 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
102.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
20.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 2.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 2.0
-- PCIe lanes 16
-- PCIe Bandwidth 8.0 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 Intel Pentium B970 is 35 W.
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Characteristic Intel Pentium B970
22 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 35 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
10 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 85 °C

Technical details

The Apple M3 (8-GPU) has a 20.00 MB cache, while the Intel Pentium B970 cache has a total of 2.00 MB.
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Characteristic Intel Pentium B970
3 nm Technology 32 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
-- Socket PGA 988
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
macOS, iPadOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2023 Release date Q1/2012
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 (17%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 (7%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
2150 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
435 (20%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
10450 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
862 (8%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
3125 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
401 (13%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
11863 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
711 (6%)

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-GPU)
Apple M3 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
2840 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) @ 1.15 GHz
110 (4%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
137 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
659 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
1965 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
10437 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (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 M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
1080 (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) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
10,437 CB R23 MC @ 22 W
474 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
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 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)
Intel Pentium B970 Intel Pentium B970
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Intel Pentium B970
Apple iMac 24 (2023) Unknown

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