Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-13980HX

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-13980HX
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Intel Core i9-13980HX

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-13980HX 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 i9-13980HX which has 24 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2023.
Apple M series (23) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple M3 (6) CPU group Intel Core i 13000H (26)
3 Generation 13
M3 Architecture Raptor Lake H
Mobile Segment Mobile
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 i9-13980HX clocks with 2.20 GHz (5.60 GHz), has 24 CPU cores and can calculate 32 threads in parallel.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-13980HX
16 Cores 24
16 Threads 32
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
12x P-Core
A-Core 2.20 GHz (5.60 GHz)
8x Raptor Cove
0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz)
4x E-Core
B-Core 1.60 GHz (4.00 GHz)
16x Gracemont

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 i9-13980HX
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 Intel UHD Graphics 13th Gen (32 EU)
0.39 GHz GPU frequency 0.40 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.65 GHz
-- GPU Generation 13
3 nm Technology 10 nm
5 Max. displays 3
640 Compute units 32
5120 Shader 256
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
128 GB Max. GPU Memory 64 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.1

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 Max (40 Core) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 13th Gen (32 EU)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 Decode
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

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 i9-13980HX supports a maximum of 192 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s enabled.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-13980HX
LPDDR5-6400 Memory DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
128 GB Max. Memory 192 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
409.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 89.6 GB/s
No ECC Yes
36.00 MB L2 Cache 32.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 36.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 5.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) has a TDP of 57 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i9-13980HX is 55 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 i9-13980HX
57 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 55 W
-- TDP (PL2) 157 W
-- TDP up 86 W
-- TDP down 45 W
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

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 i9-13980HX is at 68.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 10 nm.

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-13980HX
3 nm Technology 10 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, AVX2+
-- Socket BGA 1744
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 Q1/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) (98%)
Intel Core i9-13980HX (93%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) (94%)
Intel Core i9-13980HX (90%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 GHz
117 (83%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 GHz
1495 (93%)

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 (92%)
Intel Core i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 GHz
2134 (100%)

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 (76%)
Intel Core i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 GHz
31572 (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 (16-CPU 40-GPU) Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU)
16C 16T @ 4.06 GHz
2150 (100%)
Intel Core i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 GHz
2117 (98%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 GHz
19763 (87%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 GHz
2819 (90%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 GHz
17097 (81%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
Intel UHD Graphics 13th Gen (32 EU) @ 1.65 GHz
845 (6%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
31,572 CB R23 MC @ 168 W
188 (45%)

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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 GHz
48600 (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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 5.60 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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 4.90 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 i9-13980HX Intel Core i9-13980HX
24C 32T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M3 Max (16-CPU 40-GPU) Intel Core i9-13980HX
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Unknown

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