Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) vs Intel Core i7-990X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-990X
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Intel Core i7-990X

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) and the Intel Core i7-990X and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) 16 core processor released in Q4/2023 with the Intel Core i7-990X which has 6 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2011.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24)
Apple M3 (6) CPU group Intel Core i7 900 (4)
3 Generation 1
M3 Architecture Gulftown
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) is a 16 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz). The processor can compute 16 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i7-990X clocks with 3.46 GHz (3.73 GHz), has 6 CPU cores and can calculate 12 threads in parallel.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
16 Cores 6
16 Threads 12
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
12x P-Core
A-Core 3.46 GHz (3.73 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
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 (40 Core) GPU no iGPU
0.39 GHz GPU frequency --
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation --
3 nm Technology
5 Max. displays
640 Compute units --
5120 Shader --
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
128 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 (40 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 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU), while the Intel Core i7-990X supports a maximum of 24 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s enabled.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR3-1066
128 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 3
409.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
36.00 MB L2 Cache 1.50 MB
-- L3 Cache 12.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) has a TDP of 57 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i7-990X is 130 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
57 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 130 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) has 36.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 3 nm. The cache of Intel Core i7-990X is at 13.50 MB. The processor is manufactured in 32 nm.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
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 LGA 1366
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT
Yes AES-NI No
macOS, iPadOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2023 Release date Q1/2011
-- Release price 1059 $
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X (26%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X (16%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
2150 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
639 (30%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
22736 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
3765 (17%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
3125 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
660 (21%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
21045 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
3247 (15%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
141 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
1607 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
1968 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
24028 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
496 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
0 (0%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
6311 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
Apple M3 Max (40 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
14200 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
@ 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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
6975 (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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
2460 (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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
266 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
0 (0%)

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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
3375 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
24,028 CB R23 MC @ 57 W
422 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
3.46 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 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Intel Core i7-990X
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Unknown

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