Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) AMD Ryzen 9 5900

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) 14 core processor released in Q4/2023 with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 which has 12 CPU cores and was introduced in Q2/2021.
Apple M series (25) Family AMD Ryzen 9 (35)
Apple M3 (6) CPU group AMD Ryzen 5000 (12)
3 Generation 4
M3 Architecture Vermeer (Zen 3)
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Predecessor AMD Ryzen 9 3900
-- Successor AMD Ryzen 9 7900

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) is a 14 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz). The processor can compute 14 threads at the same time. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 clocks with 3.00 GHz (4.70 GHz), has 12 CPU cores and can calculate 24 threads in parallel.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic AMD Ryzen 9 5900
14 Cores 12
14 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
10x P-Core
A-Core 3.00 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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic AMD Ryzen 9 5900
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Apple M3 Max (30 Core) GPU no iGPU
0.39 GHz GPU frequency --
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation --
3 nm Technology
5 Max. displays
480 Compute units --
3840 Shader --
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
96 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 Max (30 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

Up to 96 GB of memory in a maximum of 3 memory channels is supported by the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU), while the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s enabled.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic AMD Ryzen 9 5900
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR4-3200
96 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
3 Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
307.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 51.2 GB/s
No ECC Yes
36.00 MB L2 Cache 6.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 64.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 39.4 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) has a TDP of 50 W. The TDP of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 is 65 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic AMD Ryzen 9 5900
50 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 95 °C

Technical details

The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) has 36.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 3 nm. The cache of AMD Ryzen 9 5900 is at 70.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic AMD Ryzen 9 5900
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 Q2/2021
-- Release price --
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (144 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (76%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (72%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
1968 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.70 GHz
1622 (82%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
20983 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.10 GHz
20955 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
2150 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.70 GHz
1688 (79%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
20961 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.10 GHz
13874 (66%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
3125 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.70 GHz
2130 (68%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
19404 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.10 GHz
9740 (50%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
141 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.70 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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
1373 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
Apple M3 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
10650 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
@ 0.00 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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 4.10 GHz
34570 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
7746 (100%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900 AMD Ryzen 9 5900
12C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) AMD Ryzen 9 5900
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Unknown

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