Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs Intel Core i9 12900KF

[ 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 Intel Core i9 12900KF (69/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.

[ WINNER ]
Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Apple

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

97/100
View Full Specs →
Intel Core i9 12900KF
Intel

Intel Core i9 12900KF

69/100
View Full Specs →

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Normalized Lab Scores
Benchmark measurements and scores across compared devices
Benchmark Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Efficiency 92.0 Excellent WINNER 47.0 Poor
Performance 100.0 Excellent WINNER 76.0 Good

Detailed Technical Specifications

CPU

CPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Base Frequency (E) 4.38 GHz 2.4 GHz
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 3.2 GHz
E-Cores 12 8
E-Threads 12 8
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 64K (per core)
Multiplier 46x 32x
P-Cores 6 8
P-Threads 6 16
Total Cores 18 16
Total Threads 18 24
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes
Bus Frequency — 100 MHz
L2 Cache — 14MB (shared)
L3 Cache — 30MB (shared)
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) — 3.9 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) — 5.1 GHz

Cinebench

Cinebench specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 9428 —
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 734 —

GeekBench v6

GeekBench v6 specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Background blur 106.1 images/sec 66.8 images/sec
Clang compilation 271.1 Klines/sec 141 Klines/sec
File compression 2990 MB/sec 1150 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 811.7 pages/sec 363.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 764 Mpixels/sec 475.6 Mpixels/sec
Photo processing 303.8 images/sec 138.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 47.8 Mpixels/sec 33.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 457.1 pages/sec 274.8 pages/sec

General

General specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Codename Apple M5 Alder Lake
Instruction Set ARMv9 x86-64
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) No
Released March 3, 2026 October 27, 2021
Type Laptop Desktop
Vendor Apple Intel
AMD Equivalent — -AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
Model number — i9-12900KF
Successor — -Intel Core i9 14900KF

Memory Support

Memory Support specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
ECC Support No Yes
Max. Memory Bandwidth 614 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 32 2
Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - DDR5-4800- DDR4-3200

Package

Package specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Fabrication Process 3 nm 10 nm
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Socket Apple M-Socket LGA-1700
TDP (PL1) 72 W 125 W
Transistors 28 billions —
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) — 241 W

PassMark

PassMark specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Data compression 689.6 MBytes/sec 532.8 MBytes/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 29.2 GBytes/sec
Extended instructions 33.4B Matrices/sec 33.4B Matrices/sec
Find prime numbers 553M Primes/sec 138M Primes/sec
Floating point math 186.1 GOps/sec 104.8 GOps/sec
Integer math 132.6 GOps/sec 138.3 GOps/sec
Physics 6847 Frames/sec 2054 Frames/sec
Random string sorting 84.9M Strings/sec 56.7M Strings/sec

Performance Per Watt

Performance Per Watt specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Blender / Watt 8.1 PPW 2.92 PPW
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 28.8 PPW 11.7 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 419.7 PPW 129.1 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 798.1 PPW 324 PPW

Recent User Tests

Recent User Tests specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Date Benchmark —
📘 2026-07-03->Apple lover GeekBench —

iGPU

iGPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Execution Units 640 —
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz —
Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) —
ROPs 160 —
Shading Units 5120 —
TMUs 320 —

Misc

Misc specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i9 12900KF
Official Site — Intel Core i9 12900KF official page
PCI Express Lanes — 20
PCI Express Version — 5.0
Technologies — - Compute: ABM, ADX, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, F16C, SHA- Performance: EIST, TBT 2.0, TBT 3.0, TSX- Virtualization: VT-d, VT-x- Security: RDRAND, TXT, XD bit

Looking for More Comparisons?

Browse all available head-to-head comparisons or select new devices in the comparison hub.

Browse Processors Comparisons → Launch Full Comparison Hub →