Apple M3 vs Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)

[ VERDICT ] Winner: Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) (97/100)

Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Apple M3 (67/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.

Why choose Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU):
  • + Higher Efficiency score (93 vs 85)
  • + Higher Performance score (100 vs 87)
Apple M3
Apple

Apple M3

67/100
View Full Specs →
[ WINNER ]
Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Apple

Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)

97/100
View Full Specs →

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Normalized Lab Scores
Benchmark measurements and scores across compared devices
Benchmark Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Efficiency 85.0 Very Good 93.0 Excellent WINNER
Performance 87.0 Very Good 100.0 Excellent WINNER

Detailed Technical Specifications

CPU

CPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 4.38 GHz
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 4.61 GHz
E-Cores 4 12
E-Threads 4 12
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) —
Multiplier 40x 46x
P-Cores 4 6
P-Threads 4 6
Total Cores 8 18
Total Threads 8 18
Unlocked Multiplier No No

GeekBench v6

GeekBench v6 specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Background blur 50.2 images/sec 99.8 images/sec
Clang compilation 94.7 Klines/sec 264.8 Klines/sec
File compression 1260 MB/sec 2730 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 264.5 pages/sec 769.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 313.9 Mpixels/sec 762.6 Mpixels/sec
Photo processing 114.8 images/sec 260.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 12.9 Mpixels/sec 48.4 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 297 pages/sec 438.2 pages/sec

General

General specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Codename Apple M3 Apple M5
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv9
Integrated GPU Apple M3 GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (32-core)
Released October 30, 2023 March 3, 2026
Successor -Apple M5 (10-Core) —
Type Laptop Laptop
Vendor Apple Apple

Memory Support

Memory Support specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
ECC Support No No
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s 460.8 GB/s
Max. Memory Size 24 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 8 24
Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5X-9600

Misc

Misc specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
PCI Express Version 4.0 —

Package

Package specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
TDP (PL1) 20 W 64 W
Transistors 25 billions 28 billions

PassMark

PassMark specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Data compression 225 MBytes/sec 689.6 MBytes/sec
Data encryption 11.5 GBytes/sec 40.8 GBytes/sec
Extended instructions 10B Matrices/sec 33.4B Matrices/sec
Find prime numbers 231M Primes/sec 553M Primes/sec
Floating point math 48.3 GOps/sec 186.1 GOps/sec
Integer math 42.6 GOps/sec 132.6 GOps/sec
Physics 1867 Frames/sec 6847 Frames/sec
Random string sorting 27.3M Strings/sec 84.9M Strings/sec

Performance Per Watt

Performance Per Watt specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Blender / Watt 8.02 PPW —
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 35.6 PPW 32.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 590.8 PPW 454.2 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 953.3 PPW 897.9 PPW

Recent User Tests

Recent User Tests specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Date Benchmark —
📘 2026-06-16(darkknightSup) GeekBench —
📘 2026-08-22(doannguyenmfs) GeekBench —

iGPU

iGPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M3 Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Execution Units 160 512
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz —
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1620 MHz
Integrated Graphics Apple M3 GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (32-core)
ROPs 40 128
Shading Units 1280 4096
TGP 15 W —
TMUs 80 256

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