Intel Xeon Gold 6148 vs Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Xeon Gold 6148 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)

CPU comparison

Intel Xeon Gold 6148 or Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-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 6148 has 20 cores with 40 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. Up to 768 GB of memory is supported in 6 memory channels. The Intel Xeon Gold 6148 was released in Q3/2017.

The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) has 14 cores with 14 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.06 GHz. The CPU supports up to 96 GB of memory in 3 memory channels. The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) was released in Q4/2023.
Intel Xeon Gold (163) Family Apple M series (25)
Intel Xeon Gold 5100/6100 (34) CPU group Apple M3 (6)
1 Generation 3
Skylake Architecture M3
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Xeon Gold 6148 is a 20 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (3.70 GHz). The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) has 14 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz).
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Characteristic Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
20 Cores 14
40 Threads 14
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz (3.70 GHz) A-Core 0.70 GHz (4.06 GHz)
10x P-Core
-- B-Core 0.74 GHz (2.75 GHz)
4x E-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.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Characteristic Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS
-- 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.
no iGPU GPU Apple M3 Max (30 Core)
GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
-- GPU Generation --
Technology 3 nm
Max. displays 5
-- Compute units 480
-- Shader 3840
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 96 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 Max (30 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 6148 supports a maximum of 768 GB of memory in 6 memory channels. The Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) can connect up to 96 GB of memory in 3 memory channels.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Characteristic Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
DDR4-2666 Memory LPDDR5-6400
768 GB Max. Memory 96 GB
6 (Hexa Channel) Memory channels 3
128.1 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 307.2 GB/s
Yes ECC No
-- L2 Cache 36.00 MB
28.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version 4.0
48 PCIe lanes --
47.3 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Xeon Gold 6148 has a TDP of 150 W, that of the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) is 50 W.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Characteristic Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
150 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 50 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Xeon Gold 6148 has a 28.00 MB cache, while the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) cache has a total of 36.00 MB.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Characteristic Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-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
Q3/2017 Release date Q4/2023
3100 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Xeon Gold 6148 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.8 stars (148 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 (45%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 (60%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) (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.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
1043 (49%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
14768 (70%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
20961 (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 Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
1254 (40%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
3125 (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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
9445 (49%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
19404 (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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
141 (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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
1373 (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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 GHz
1968 (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 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
20983 (100%)

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 Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
6342 (100%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 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.
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
Apple M3 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
10650 (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 Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
29006 (100%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 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 Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.70 GHz
161 (100%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 4.06 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 Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 3.00 GHz
3310 (100%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)

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).
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Intel Xeon Gold 6148
20C 40T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
14C 14T @ 0.70 GHz
35 (100%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Xeon Gold 6148 Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU)
Unknown Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)

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