Apple M4 vs Intel Xeon Gold 5218

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M4 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
Apple M4 Intel Xeon Gold 5218

CPU comparison

Apple M4 or Intel Xeon Gold 5218 - 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 M4 has 9 cores with 9 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.41 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple M4 was released in Q2/2024.

The Intel Xeon Gold 5218 has 16 cores with 32 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.90 GHz. The CPU supports up to 1024 GB of memory in 6 memory channels. The Intel Xeon Gold 5218 was released in Q2/2019.
Apple M series (25) Family Intel Xeon Gold (163)
Apple M4 (2) CPU group Intel Xeon Gold 5200/6200 (55)
4 Generation 2
M4 Architecture Cascade Lake
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
Apple M3 Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M4 is a 9 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz). The Intel Xeon Gold 5218 has 16 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.30 GHz (3.90 GHz).

Apple M4 Characteristic Intel Xeon Gold 5218
9 Cores 16
9 Threads 32
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz)
3x P-Core
A-Core 2.30 GHz (3.90 GHz)
0.74 GHz (2.85 GHz)
6x 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 M4 Characteristic Intel Xeon Gold 5218
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

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 M4 (10 Core) GPU no iGPU
0.39 GHz GPU frequency --
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation --
3 nm Technology
2 Max. displays
160 Compute units --
1280 Shader --
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
24 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 M4 (10 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

The Apple M4 supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Xeon Gold 5218 can connect up to 1024 GB of memory in 6 memory channels.

Apple M4 Characteristic Intel Xeon Gold 5218
LPDDR5X-7500 Memory DDR4-2666
8 GB Max. Memory 1024 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 6 (Hexa Channel)
120.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 128.1 GB/s
No ECC Yes
18.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 22.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 48
-- PCIe Bandwidth 47.3 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple M4 has a TDP of 22 W, that of the Intel Xeon Gold 5218 is 125 W.

Apple M4 Characteristic Intel Xeon Gold 5218
22 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 125 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
15 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple M4 has a 18.00 MB cache, while the Intel Xeon Gold 5218 cache has a total of 22.00 MB.

Apple M4 Characteristic Intel Xeon Gold 5218
3 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv9-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation, AVX2, SME ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512
-- Socket LGA 3647
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
macOS, iPadOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2024 Release date Q2/2019
-- Release price 1275 $
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple M4 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (96 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Xeon Gold 5218 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M4 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (39%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Apple M4 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (68%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
2491 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 3.90 GHz
1041 (42%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
3630 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 3.90 GHz
1308 (36%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
13060 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
8856 (68%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
12543 (100%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
22369 (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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
38 (100%)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
16C 32T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M4 Intel Xeon Gold 5218
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2024) Unknown

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