Apple M2 Max vs Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

[ VERDICT ] Winner: Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) (97/100)

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Apple M2 Max (68/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.

Apple M2 Max
Apple

Apple M2 Max

68/100
View Full Specs →
[ WINNER ]
Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Apple

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

97/100
View Full Specs →

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Normalized Lab Scores
Benchmark measurements and scores across compared devices
Benchmark Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Efficiency 75.0 Good 92.0 Excellent WINNER
Performance 77.0 Good 100.0 Excellent WINNER

Detailed Technical Specifications

CPU

CPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 4.38 GHz
Base Frequency (P) 3.5 GHz 4.61 GHz
E-Cores 4 12
E-Threads 4 12
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) —
Multiplier 35x 46x
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 8 6
Total Cores 12 18
Total Threads 12 18
Unlocked Multiplier No No

GeekBench v6

GeekBench v6 specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Background blur 54.1 images/sec 106.1 images/sec
Clang compilation 131.8 Klines/sec 271.1 Klines/sec
File compression 1690 MB/sec 2990 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 368.6 pages/sec 811.7 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 382.1 Mpixels/sec 764 Mpixels/sec
Photo processing 149.6 images/sec 303.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 17 Mpixels/sec 47.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 272.7 pages/sec 457.1 pages/sec

General

General specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Codename Apple M2 Apple M5
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv9
Integrated GPU Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
Released January 17, 2023 March 3, 2026
Successor -Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) —
Type Laptop Laptop
Vendor Apple Apple

Memory Support

Memory Support specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
ECC Support No No
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 614 GB/s
Max. Memory Size 96 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 4 32
Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5X-9600

Misc

Misc specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
PCI Express Version 4.0 —

Package

Package specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Fabrication Process 5 nm 3 nm
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
TDP (PL1) 50 W 72 W
Transistors 67 billions 28 billions

PassMark

PassMark specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Data compression 335.2 MBytes/sec 689.6 MBytes/sec
Data encryption 15.7 GBytes/sec 40.8 GBytes/sec
Extended instructions 14.7B Matrices/sec 33.4B Matrices/sec
Find prime numbers 359M Primes/sec 553M Primes/sec
Floating point math 73.4 GOps/sec 186.1 GOps/sec
Integer math 57.7 GOps/sec 132.6 GOps/sec
Physics 3849 Frames/sec 6847 Frames/sec
Random string sorting 41.1M Strings/sec 84.9M Strings/sec

Performance Per Watt

Performance Per Watt specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Blender / Watt 5.06 PPW 8.1 PPW
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 20.4 PPW 28.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 297.8 PPW 419.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 536.9 PPW 798.1 PPW

iGPU

iGPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Execution Units 608 640
GPU Base Clock 450 MHz —
GPU Boost Clock 1398 MHz 1620 MHz
Integrated Graphics Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
ROPs 152 160
Shading Units 4864 5120
TGP 70 W —
TMUs 304 320

Cinebench

Cinebench specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) — 9428
Cinebench 2026 (Single) — 734

Recent User Tests

Recent User Tests specifications comparison
Specification Apple M2 Max Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Date — Benchmark
📘 2026-07-03->Apple lover — GeekBench

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