Home / CPU Comparison / Intel Core i9-9900X X-series or Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU): What's better?

Intel Core i9-9900X X-series

vs

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Intel Core i9-9900X X-series and Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

More Total Cores: 18 (10 vs 18)
Higher Max Turbo Frequency: 4.61 GHz (4.40 GHz vs 4.61 GHz)
Higher Technology: Third-generation 3 nm (14 nm vs Third-generation 3 nm)
Higher Memory Type: LPDDR5X unified memory (DDR4-2666 vs LPDDR5X unified memory)
Newer Launch Date: March 2026 (October 2018 vs March 2026)

Basic

Intel

Label Name

Apple

October 2018

Launch Date

March 2026

Desktop

Platform

Laptop

CPU Architecture

Apple custom ARM architecture

CPU Name

Apple M5 Max

i9-9900X

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 Max 40-Core GPU

SkyLake

Code Name

Foundry

TSMC N3P

Generation

M5 Max

CPU Specifications

Interconnect Technology

Apple Fusion Architecture

Performance Cores

Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency

4.38 GHz

Prime Cores

Prime-core Multi-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).

Total Threads

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

3.50 GHz

Basic Frequency

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

4.40 GHz

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.

4.61 GHz

Number of AVX-512 FMA Units

Yes

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

4.50 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency

Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the best performing core(s) on a processor and provides increased performance on those cores through increasing frequency as needed by taking advantage of power and thermal headroom. Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 frequency is the clock frequency of the CPU when running in this mode.

2.0

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

19.25 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

FCLGA2066

CPU Socket

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

Yes

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

14 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.

Third-generation 3 nm

165 W

TDP

92°C

Max. Operating Temperature

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

3.0

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.

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Yes

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Memory Specifications

DDR4-2666

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

128 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.

8 GT/s

Bus Speed

85 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).

614 GB/s

Maximum Memory Speed

9600 MT/s

ECC Memory Supported

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 / DisplayPort 2.1 over USB-C; HDMI

GPU Name

Apple M5 Max 40-core GPU

Hardware-accelerated ray tracing

Supported

Max External Display Resolution

Up to four external displays: four displays up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz; or two displays up to 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed

Video Encode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed

Graphics Core Count

Max Resolution

Up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz

GPU APIs

Metal

Media Engine

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

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

AI Specifications

AI Engine

Apple Neural Engine with Neural Accelerators in GPU cores

Neural Engine Core Count

NPU Name

16-core Neural Engine

Connectivity

Bluetooth Support

Supported

Bluetooth Version

Wi-Fi Standard

Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)

Wireless System

Apple N1 wireless networking chip

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt Support

Thunderbolt 5

USB Version

USB 4 up to 120Gb/s

USB4 Support

Supported

Miscellaneous

Runtime Anti-Exploitation

Memory Integrity Enforcement

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2 | Intel® AVX-512

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.