Home > CPU Comparison > M3 Max or Ryzen 9 9900X: what's better?

Apple M3 Max vs AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
VS
80 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
Apple M3 Max
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

We compared two CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max (laptop) with 16-cores against the 4.4 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (desktop) with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the DeviceFacts Score for desktop CPU.
DeviceFacts Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 9900X and Max
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
  • More powerful Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 14.1 vs 0.6 TFLOPS
  • Around 320 GB/s (357%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 4 nanometers
  • Has 4 more physical cores
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Newer PCI Express version โ€“ 5.0
  • Newer - released 7 months later

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M3 Max
vs
Ryzen 9 9900X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Max +4%
142
Ryzen 9 9900X
137
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Max
1698
Ryzen 9 9900X +7%
1810
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 763
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5133 7580
Cinebench Scores (51st and 42nd place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M3 Max
3227
Ryzen 9 9900X +4%
3340
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Max +8%
21167
Ryzen 9 9900X
19543
File compression 2190 MB/sec 1510 MB/sec
Clang compilation 198.5 Klines/sec 191.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 557.3 pages/sec 361.8 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 648.9 Mpixels/sec 534 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 309.1 pages/sec 350.5 pages/sec
Background blur 68.9 images/sec 82.7 images/sec
Photo processing 183.5 images/sec 118.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.6 Mpixels/sec 45.5 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 678 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Max +2%
4780
Ryzen 9 9900X
4672
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Max
41211
Ryzen 9 9900X +32%
54325
Integer math 91.2 GOps/sec 180.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 131.5 GOps/sec 119.7 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 573M Primes/sec 432M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 61.7M Strings/sec 71.4M Strings/sec
Data encryption 24.7 GBytes/sec 33.3 GBytes/sec
Data compression 530.4 MBytes/sec 678.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 4332 Frames/sec 3330 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 24.2B Matrices/sec 54.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 409 & 6489 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Max
403.83
Ryzen 9 9900X +13%
454.53

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 30.3 PPW 15.1 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 378 PPW 162.9 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 735.9 PPW 452.7 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.21 PPW 3.79 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M3 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin)Cinebench 2024142 / 1698
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1)Cinebench 2024141 / 1459
Add View all (2)
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-20 (Alenaes)Cinebench 2026773 / 7971
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-04 (Alenaes)Cinebench 2024139 / 1841
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-04 (Alenaes)Cinebench 2026763 / 7580
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-05-01 (PLL)Cinebench 2024137 / 1853
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-04-03 (freziontechno)Cinebench 2026759 / 7584
Add View all (28)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Max and AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

General

Vendor Apple Amd
Released October 30, 2023 June 3, 2024
Type Laptop Desktop
Instruction Set ARMv8 x86-64
Codename Apple M3 Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)
Integrated GPU Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Radeon Graphics
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i9 14900K
Successor - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) -

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 12 12
P-Threads 12 24
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 4.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) - 5.6 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 16 12
Total Threads 16 24
Bus Frequency - 100 MHz
Multiplier 40x 44x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 1MB (per core)
L3 Cache - 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Transistors 92 billions -
Fabrication Process 3 nm 4 nm
TDP (PL1) 56 W 120 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 162 W
Socket Apple M-Socket AM5
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 95ยฐC
Desktop CPU ranking (#15th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Radeon Graphics
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 400 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 2200 MHz
Shading Units 5120 128
TMUs 320 8
ROPs 160 4
Execution Units 640 2
TGP 60 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Max +2250%
14.1 TFLOPS
Ryzen 9 9900X
0.6 TFLOPS
More info: Radeon Graphics iGPU (Ryzen 7000) compared to Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - DDR5-5600
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 32 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 89.6 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site - AMD Ryzen 9 9900X official page
PCI Express Version 4.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes - 28

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (30.8%)
9 (69.2%)
Total votes: 13

Competitors

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5. AMD Ryzen 9 9900X vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
6. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (2)
7. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Ultra
8. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra
9. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
10. Apple M3 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core) (1)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X or Apple M3 Max?
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