Intel Xeon Gold 5218N vs Apple M3 (8-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Xeon Gold 5218N CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Apple M3 (8-GPU)

CPU comparison

Intel Xeon Gold 5218N or Apple M3 (8-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 Xeon Gold 5218N has 16 cores with 32 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. Up to 1024 GB of memory is supported in 6 memory channels. The Intel Xeon Gold 5218N was released in Q2/2019.

The Apple M3 (8-GPU) has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.06 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) was released in Q4/2023.
Intel Xeon Gold (163) Family Apple M series (25)
Intel Xeon Gold 5200/6200 (55) CPU group Apple M3 (6)
2 Generation 3
Cascade Lake Architecture M3
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple M2 (8-GPU)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Xeon Gold 5218N has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 32 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Xeon Gold 5218N is 2.30 GHz (3.70 GHz) while the Apple M3 (8-GPU) has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M3 (8-GPU) is at 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz).
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
16 Cores 8
32 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.30 GHz (3.70 GHz) A-Core 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
4x P-Core
-- B-Core 0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz)
4x E-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.
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Intel Xeon Gold 5218N or Apple M3 (8-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.
no iGPU GPU Apple M3 (8 Core)
GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
-- GPU Generation --
Technology 3 nm
Max. displays 2
-- Compute units 128
-- Shader 1024
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 24 GB
-- 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.
no iGPU GPU Apple M3 (8 Core)
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 Decode
No Codec AVC Decode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Xeon Gold 5218N can use up to 1024 GB of memory in 6 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 128.1 GB/s. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 102.4 GB/s.
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
DDR4-2666 Memory LPDDR5-6400
1024 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
6 (Hexa Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
128.1 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
Yes ECC No
-- L2 Cache 20.00 MB
22.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version 4.0
48 PCIe lanes --
47.3 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Xeon Gold 5218N is 110 W, while the Apple M3 (8-GPU) has a TDP of 22 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
110 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 22 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 10 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Xeon Gold 5218N is manufactured in 14 nm and has 22.00 MB cache. The Apple M3 (8-GPU) is manufactured in 3 nm and has a 20.00 MB cache.
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Characteristic Apple M3 (8-GPU)
14 nm Technology 3 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512 ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
LGA 3647 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q2/2019 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N (43%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) (82%)

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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 3.70 GHz
1014 (47%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
2150 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 2.50 GHz
12732 (100%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
10450 (82%)

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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 3.70 GHz
1232 (39%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
3125 (100%)

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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
137 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
659 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
1965 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
10437 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 4.06 GHz
11863 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Apple M3 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
2840 (100%)

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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
2.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
10,437 CB R23 MC @ 22 W
474 (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 Xeon Gold 5218N Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
16C 32T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 (8-GPU) Apple M3 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Xeon Gold 5218N Apple M3 (8-GPU)
Unknown Apple iMac 24 (2023)

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