Home / CPU Comparison / AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D or Apple M3 Max: What's better?

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

vs

Apple M3 Max

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Apple M3 Max processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Larger L3 Cache: 96 MB (96 MB vs 48 MB system level cache)
Newer Launch Date: November 2024 (November 2024 vs October 2023)

Apple M3 Max

More Total Cores: 16 (8 vs 16)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (TSMC 4nm FinFET vs 3 nm)

Basic

AMD

Label Name

Apple

November 2024

Launch Date

October 2023

Desktop

Platform

Laptop

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Name

Apple M3 Max

Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Model Name

Apple M3 Max

Granite Ridge AM5

Code Name

Foundry

TSMC

Zen 5

Generation

Apple M3 series

Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition, Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition, RHEL x86 64-Bit, Ubuntu x86 64-Bit

OS Support

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

4.7 GHz

Basic Frequency

Up to 5.2 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

2.75 GHz

Instruction Set Extensions

NEON

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

4.06 GHz

Extended Instruction Set

ARMv8-A, NEON

640 KB

L1 Cache

P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core

8 MB

L2 Cache

P-core cluster: 36 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

96 MB

L3 Cache

48 MB system level cache

AM5

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

Yes

Unlocked for Overclocking

TSMC 4nm FinFET

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.

3 nm

120W

TDP

95°C

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

PCIe® 5.0

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

x86-64

Instruction Set

An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the instructions a processor can execute. Common architectures include x86-64, ARM and RISC-V. The ISA determines software compatibility, while optional instruction extensions add specialized capabilities.

ARMv8-A

Transistor Count

92 billion

Memory Specifications

Memory Bus Width

512-bit

DDR5

Memory Type

Unified LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

LPDDR5-6400

256 GB

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

128 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

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).

400 GB/s

2x1R DDR5-5600, 2x2R DDR5-5600, 4x1R DDR5-3600, 4x2R DDR5-3600

Maximum Memory Speed

6400 MT/s

Yes (Requires mobo support)

ECC Memory Support

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

External Display Standard

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

GPU Name

Apple M3 Max GPU

Max External Display Resolution

Up to three 6K 60Hz displays plus one 4K 144Hz display; or up to two 6K 60Hz displays plus one 8K 60Hz / 4K 240Hz display

Video Concurrency

Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video; AV1 decode

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1 decode

Video Encode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Processing Unit

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode

AMD Radeon™ Graphics

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

1400 MHz

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

390 MHz

Graphics Core Count

2200 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Number of Displays Supported

Up to 4 external displays

GPU APIs

Metal, OpenCL