Intel Core i9-9900K vs Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-9900K CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
Intel Core i9-9900K Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)

CPU comparison

Intel Core i9-9900K or Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) - 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 Intel Core i9-9900K has 8 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.00 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-9900K was released in Q4/2018.

The Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Apple M series (23)
Intel Core i 9000 (34) CPU group Apple M1 (9)
9 Generation 1
Coffee Lake S Refresh Architecture M1
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Intel Core i9-10900K Successor Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-9900K has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-9900K is 3.60 GHz (5.00 GHz) while the Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) has 10 CPU cores and 10 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) is at 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz).

Intel Core i9-9900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
8 Cores 10
16 Threads 10
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.60 GHz (5.00 GHz) A-Core 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
8x Firestorm
-- B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
2x Icestorm

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.

Intel Core i9-9900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i9-9900K or Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU Apple M1 Max (24 Core)
0.35 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
1.20 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.30 GHz
9.5 GPU Generation 1
14 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 5
24 Compute units 384
192 Shader 3072
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
12 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.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU Apple M1 Max (24 Core)
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 / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i9-9900K can use up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 42.7 GB/s. The Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) supports up to 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 409.6 GB/s.

Intel Core i9-9900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
DDR4-2666 Memory LPDDR5-6400
128 GB Max. Memory 64 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
42.7 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 28.00 MB
16.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version 4.0
16 PCIe lanes --
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-9900K is 95 W, while the Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) has a TDP of 45 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i9-9900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
95 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 45 W
119 W @ 28 s TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-9900K is manufactured in 14 nm and has 16.00 MB cache. The Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 28.00 MB cache.

Intel Core i9-9900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
14 nm Technology 5 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
LGA 1151-2 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS
Q4/2018 Release date Q3/2021
650 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
77 (69%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
112 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
640 (80%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
796 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
1294 (84%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
12812 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12402 (97%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
1342 (75%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1783 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
8779 (69%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12693 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
1650 (69%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
8182 (66%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12439 (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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
Intel UHD Graphics 630 @ 1.20 GHz
461 (6%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
Apple M1 Max (24 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
7830 (100%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
171 (89%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
192 (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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
18702 (84%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
22255 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
518 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
4995 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
163.8 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
545 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
5502 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz
219 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
2245 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 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.
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
12,402 CB R23 MC @ 45 W
275 (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).
Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i9-9900K
8C 16T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
11 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-9900K Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)
Memory PC Intel i9-9900K
Multimedia Office PC Intel Core i9 9900K
Corsair ONE i160 Kompakter Gaming-PC Intel Core i9-9900K
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)

News and articles for the Intel Core i9-9900K and the Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)


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