Microsoft XBox Series X vs Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Microsoft XBox Series X CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
Microsoft XBox Series X Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)

CPU comparison

Microsoft XBox Series X or Apple M2 Max (38-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 Microsoft XBox Series X has 8 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.80 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Microsoft XBox Series X was released in Q3/2020.

The Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) has 12 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 96 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) was released in Q1/2023.
AMD Ryzen 7 (70) Family Apple M series (25)
AMD Ryzen 4000G (22) CPU group Apple M2 (8)
3 Generation 2
Renoir (Zen 2) Architecture M2
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Microsoft XBox Series X has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Microsoft XBox Series X is 3.20 GHz (3.80 GHz) while the Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) has 12 CPU cores and 12 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) is at 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz).

Microsoft XBox Series X Characteristic Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
8 Cores 12
16 Threads 12
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.20 GHz (3.80 GHz)
8x Zen 2
A-Core 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz)
8x Avalanche
-- B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz)
4x Blizzard

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.

Microsoft XBox Series X Characteristic Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The Microsoft XBox Series X or Apple M2 Max (38-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.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (XBox Series X) GPU Apple M2 Max (38 Core)
1.83 GHz GPU frequency 0.45 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
1 GPU Generation 2
7 nm Technology 5 nm
1 Max. displays 5
52 Compute units 608
3328 Shader 4864
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
10 GB Max. GPU Memory 96 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.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (XBox Series X) GPU Apple M2 Max (38 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 Microsoft XBox Series X can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 560.0 GB/s. The Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) supports up to 96 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 409.6 GB/s.

Microsoft XBox Series X Characteristic Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
GDDR6 Memory LPDDR5-6400
16 GB Max. Memory 96 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
560.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 36.00 MB
8.00 MB L3 Cache --
4.0 PCIe version 4.0
12 PCIe lanes 32
23.6 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 63.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Microsoft XBox Series X is 65 W, while the Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) has a TDP of 40 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Microsoft XBox Series X Characteristic Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 40 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Microsoft XBox Series X is manufactured in 7 nm and has 8.00 MB cache. The Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 36.00 MB cache.

Microsoft XBox Series X Characteristic Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
7 nm Technology 5 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
BGA Socket --
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q3/2020 Release date Q1/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Microsoft XBox Series X to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (7 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (56 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Microsoft XBox Series X (62%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Microsoft XBox Series X (62%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
1142 (67%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1695 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.66 GHz
10650 (72%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
14855 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
1070 (57%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1874 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.66 GHz
7358 (47%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
15506 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (XBox Series X) @ 1.83 GHz
12150 (90%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
Apple M2 Max (38 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
13490 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.66 GHz
17455 (66%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
26310 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
121 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
1025 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
2689 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.66 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz
14207 (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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz
431 (100%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.66 GHz
4062 (100%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 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.
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
14,855 CB R23 MC @ 40 W
371 (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).
Microsoft XBox Series X Microsoft XBox Series X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz
15.8 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Microsoft XBox Series X Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)
Unknown Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)

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