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Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores

Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores
Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores processor review

Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores: Preliminary Tests and Comparison with M5 Max and M3 Ultra

Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores is the lower-end of the two M5 Ultra configurations for the 2026 Mac Studio. Its CPU includes 10 Super Cores and 20 Performance Cores, while preliminary results are notably higher than those of the M3 Ultra. Mac Studio with this processor starts at $5,499.

Mac Studio shipments begin on September 22, 2026, so the M5 Ultra results are currently based on preliminary tests rather than production computers.

M5 Ultra 30 Cores vs. the 36-Core Version

The M5 Ultra is available with a 30-core or 36-core CPU.

Specification M5 Ultra 30 Cores M5 Ultra 36 Cores
CPU 30 cores 36 cores
Super Cores 10 12
Performance Cores 20 24
GPU 64 cores 80 cores
Neural Engine 32 cores 32 cores
Memory bandwidth 1.2 TB/s 1.2 TB/s
Premium for higher-end chip - $1,300

The 36-core version has six more CPU cores and 16 more GPU cores, while both configurations offer 1.2 TB/s of memory bandwidth.

The additional cores in the higher-end version are primarily intended for multithreaded rendering and GPU compute.

Benchmarks

Device / processor Geekbench 6 Single Geekbench 6 Multi Cinebench 2024 Single Cinebench 2024 Multi Starting price
Mac Studio 2026, M5 Ultra 30 Cores - preliminary 4688 39193 223 3701 $5,499
MacBook Pro 14 2026, M5 Max 18 Cores 4310 29793 199 2456 from $4,099
Mac Studio 2025, M3 Ultra 28 Cores 3238 26580 142 2207 $3,999
Mac Studio 2023, M2 Ultra 24 Cores 2685 21387 126 1918 $3,999

In Geekbench 6 Single, the M5 Ultra scores 4688 points-approximately 9% more than the M5 Max and 45% more than the M3 Ultra 28 Cores.

In Geekbench 6 Multi, the M5 Ultra scores 39193 points-32% more than the M5 Max and 47% more than the M3 Ultra.

In Cinebench 2024 Multi, the M5 Ultra scores 3701 points versus 2207 for the M3 Ultra-a difference of approximately 68%.

What Changed After the M3 Ultra

The base M3 Ultra uses a 28-core CPU with 20 performance cores and eight efficiency cores, while the M5 Ultra has 30 cores. The difference in core count is small-30 versus 28.

Unified memory bandwidth increased from 819 GB/s to 1.2 TB/s, which is important for GPU compute, video editing, and local execution of large machine-learning models.

The 64-core GPU includes hardware Neural Accelerators in every graphics core.

M5 Ultra vs. M5 Max

The main hardware differences between the M5 Ultra and M5 Max are graphics and memory bandwidth.

The base M5 Ultra features a 64-core GPU and memory with 1.2 TB/s of bandwidth. The M5 Max uses a 32- or 40-core GPU, while its memory bandwidth reaches 614 GB/s.

This configuration is designed for 3D rendering, GPU compute, and local execution of AI models. In workloads that use a small number of CPU cores, the difference between the M5 Ultra and M5 Max is substantially smaller.

Mac Studio Price with M5 Ultra

Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra 30 Cores starts at $5,499.

The base Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra cost $3,999 in 2025, so switching to the M5 Ultra increased the starting price by $1,500.

Conclusion

Preliminary tests show a notable increase over the M3 Ultra: approximately 45% in Geekbench 6 Single, 47% in Multi, and 68% in Cinebench 2024 Multi. Compared with the M5 Max, the difference is smaller-approximately 9% and 32% in Geekbench 6 Single and Multi, respectively.

Tests of production Mac Studio units will show how closely the preliminary results correspond to the performance of commercial devices.

CPU Comparison

Compare Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores with other CPUs

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Basic

Label Name
Apple
Platform
Desktop
Launch Date
August 2026
CPU Architecture
Apple custom ARM architecture
CPU Name
Apple M5 Ultra
Model Name
?
The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.
Apple M5 Ultra 30 Cores
Foundry
TSMC N3P
Generation
M5 Ultra

CPU Specifications

Interconnect Bandwidth
Over 4.4 TB/s
Interconnect Technology
UltraFusion quad-die architecture
Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency
4.38 GHz
Super-core Max Frequency
4.61 GHz
Total Cores
?
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
30
Total Threads
?
Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.
30
Performance-cores
20
Super-cores
10
Technology
?
Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.
Third-generation 3 nm

Memory Specifications

Memory Type
?
Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.
LPDDR5X unified memory
Max Memory Size
?
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
256 GB
Max Memory Bandwidth
?
Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).
1.2 TB/s

GPU Specifications

External Display Standard
Thunderbolt / DisplayPort 2.1 over USB-C; HDMI 2.1
GPU Name
Apple M5 Ultra 64-core GPU
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Supported
Max External Display Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Video Concurrency
Up to 33 streams of 8K ProRes 422 at 30 fps
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated
Graphics Core Count
64
Max Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Number of Displays Supported
8
GPU APIs
Metal
Media Engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode
Video Decode Engines
2
Video Encode Engines
4
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
4

AI Specifications

AI Engine
Apple Neural Engine with Neural Accelerators in GPU cores
Neural Engine Core Count
32
NPU Name
32-core Neural Engine

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt Support
Thunderbolt 5
USB4 Support
Supported