Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M3 Max or Intel Core Ultra 5 125H: What's better?

Apple M3 Max

vs

Intel Core Ultra 5 125H

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M3 Max and Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M3 Max

More Total Cores: 16 (16 vs 14)
Larger L3 Cache: 48 MB system level cache (48 MB system level cache vs 18 MB)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (3 nm vs 7 nm)

Intel Core Ultra 5 125H

Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 4.5 GHz (4.06 GHz vs 4.5 GHz)
Newer Launch Date: December 2023 (October 2023 vs December 2023)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Intel

October 2023

Launch Date

December 2023

Laptop

Platform

Laptop

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 Max

CPU Name

Apple M3 Max

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.

Core Ultra 5 125H

Code Name

Meteor Lake

TSMC

Foundry

Apple M3 series

Generation

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

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

Performance-core Base Frequency

3.6 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

2.3 GHz

2.75 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

NEON

Instruction Set Extensions

4.06 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

4.5 GHz

ARMv8-A, NEON

Extended Instruction Set

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

L1 Cache

112 KB per core

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

L2 Cache

14 MB

48 MB system level cache

L3 Cache

18 MB

CPU Socket

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

Intel BGA 2049

3 nm

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.

7 nm

TDP

28 W

ARMv8-A

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

92 billion

Transistor Count

Memory Specifications

512-bit

Memory Bus Width

Unified LPDDR5-6400

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.

DDR5-5600,LPDDR5x-7467

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

128 GB

Max Memory Size

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

96GB

Memory Channels

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

400 GB/s

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).

6400 MT/s

Maximum Memory Speed

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

External Display Standard

Apple M3 Max GPU

GPU Name

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

Max External Display Resolution

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

Video Concurrency

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

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Encode

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode

Video Processing Unit

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.

Intel® Arc™ graphics

1400 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

390 MHz

Graphics Base Frequency

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

Graphics Core Count

Up to 4 external displays

Number of Displays Supported

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Up to 14.2 TFLOPS FP32