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

Apple M5 Max 40-Core GPU

SkyLake

Code Name

Foundry

TSMC N3P

Generation

M5 Max

CPU Specifications

Interconnect Technology

Apple Fusion 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).

Total Threads

Performance-cores

Super-cores

3.50 GHz

Basic Frequency

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Yes

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

4.40 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

4.61 GHz

Number of AVX-512 FMA Units

Yes

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Yes

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

4.50 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency

2.0

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

19.25 MB Intel® Smart Cache

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

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.

Max 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

Memory Specifications

DDR4-2666

Memory Type

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 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 / 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)

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.