Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M3 Pro or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: What's better?

Apple M3 Pro

vs

AMD Ryzen 5 3600X

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M3 Pro and AMD Ryzen 5 3600X processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M3 Pro

More Total Cores: 12 (12 vs 6)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (3 nm vs TSMC 7nm FinFET)
Higher Memory Type: Unified LPDDR5-6400 (Unified LPDDR5-6400 vs DDR4)
Newer Launch Date: October 2023 (October 2023 vs July 2019)

AMD Ryzen 5 3600X

Larger L3 Cache: 32MB (12 MB system level cache vs 32MB)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

AMD

October 2023

Launch Date

July 2019

Laptop

Platform

Desktop

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 Pro

CPU Name

Apple M3 Pro

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.

Code Name

Matisse

TSMC

Foundry

Apple M3 series

Generation

OS Support

Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition, Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition, RHEL x86 64-Bit, Ubuntu x86 64-Bit *Operating System (OS) support will vary by manufacturer.

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

Basic Frequency

3.8GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

Up to 4.4GHz

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.

ARMv8-A, NEON

Extended Instruction Set

3 MB total L1 cache

L1 Cache

384KB

20 MB L2 cache

L2 Cache

3MB

12 MB system level cache

L3 Cache

32MB

CPU Socket

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

AM4

Unlocked for Overclocking

AMD`s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD hardware and/or software. GD-26.

Yes

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.

TSMC 7nm FinFET

TDP

95W

Max. Operating Temperature

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

95°C

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.

PCIe 4.0 x16

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.

37 billion

Transistor Count

Memory Specifications

192-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.

DDR4

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

36 GB

Max Memory Size

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

Memory Channels

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

Bus Speed

Up to 3200MT/s

150 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 Pro GPU

GPU Name

Up to two 6K 60Hz displays over Thunderbolt; or one 6K 60Hz display plus one 4K 144Hz display over HDMI; HDMI up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz

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.

Discrete Graphics Card Required

1296 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

Graphics Core Count

Up to 2 external displays

Number of Displays Supported

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Up to 4.6 TFLOPS FP32

Graphics Performance

Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, and AV1 decode

Media Engine