Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-9980XE

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-9980XE
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Intel Core i9-9980XE

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-9980XE 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 Intel Core i9-9980XE which has 18 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2018.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple M3 (6) CPU group Intel Core i 9000X (8)
3 Generation 9
M3 Architecture Skylake X Refresh
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Predecessor Intel Core i9-7980XE
-- Successor Intel Core i9-10980XE

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 Intel Core i9-9980XE clocks with 3.00 GHz (4.50 GHz), has 18 CPU cores and can calculate 36 threads in parallel.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-9980XE
14 Cores 18
14 Threads 36
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 (4.50 GHz)
0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz)
4x E-Core
B-Core --

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-9980XE
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

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 Intel Core i9-9980XE supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 85.4 GB/s enabled.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-9980XE
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR4-2666
96 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
3 Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
307.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 85.4 GB/s
No ECC No
36.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 25.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 48
-- PCIe Bandwidth 47.3 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) has a TDP of 50 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i9-9980XE is 165 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 Intel Core i9-9980XE
50 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 165 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 84 °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 Intel Core i9-9980XE is at 25.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-9980XE
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, AVX-512
-- Socket LGA 2066
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 Q4/2018
-- Release price 1979 $
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE (51%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE (69%)

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 GHz
1174 (55%)

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
15725 (75%)

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 GHz
1459 (47%)

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
12177 (63%)

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
1968 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
20983 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 GHz
459 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
7516 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
Apple M3 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
10650 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
@ 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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
32092 (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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 3.00 GHz
9092 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.50 GHz
201 (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 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 4.00 GHz
3240 (100%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

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%)
Intel Core i9-9980XE Intel Core i9-9980XE
18C 36T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Intel Core i9-9980XE
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Unknown

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