Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M1 Max or Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU): What's better?

Apple M1 Max

vs

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M1 Max 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 Technology: 3 nm (5 nm vs 3 nm)
Newer Launch Date: March 2026 (October 2021 vs March 2026)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Apple

October 2021

Launch Date

March 2026

Laptop

Platform

Laptop

Apple Firestorm + Apple Icestorm

CPU Architecture

Apple M1 Max

CPU Name

Apple M1 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.

M5 Max (40-core GPU)

Code Name

Apple M5

TSMC

Foundry

Apple M1 series

Generation

CPU Specifications

Performance Cores

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

4.61 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

4.38 GHz

2.064 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

NEON

Instruction Set Extensions

3.228 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

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

192 K per core

P-core cluster: 24 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

L2 Cache

48 MB system level cache

L3 Cache

CPU Socket

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

Apple M-Socket

Multiplier

Unlocked Multiplier

5 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.

3 nm

TDP

72 W

Max. Operating Temperature

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

100 °C

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.

ARMv9

57 billion

Transistor Count

28 billions

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.

LPDDR5X-9600

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

64 GB

Max Memory Size

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

128 GB

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).

614 GB/s

6400 MT/s

Maximum Memory Speed

ECC Memory Support

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI

External Display Standard

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Apple M1 Max GPU

GPU Name

Up to three 6K 60Hz displays plus one 4K 60Hz display

Max External Display Resolution

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

Media Engine

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video

Video Concurrency

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Decode

Video Decode Engines

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Encode

Video Encode Engines

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration

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.

true

389 MHz

GPU Base Frequency

1296 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

2005 MHz

Graphics Core Count

Execution Units

The Execution Unit is the foundational building block of Intel’s graphics architecture. Execution Units are compute processors optimized for simultaneous Multi-Threading for high throughput compute power.

640

Up to 4 external displays

Number of Displays Supported

Up to 10.4 TFLOPS FP32

Graphics Performance

Yes

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.