Apple M3 Pro vs M3 Max
72
out of 100
VS
83
out of 100
We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Pro with 12-cores against the 4.05 GHz M3 Max with 16-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.
Review
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
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Key Differences
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
- Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
- Around 256 GB/s (167%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
- More powerful Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 14.1 vs 6.4 TFLOPS
- Has 4 more physical cores
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
| Cinebench 2026 (Multi) | - | 5133 |
Cinebench Scores (141st and 51st place)
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 1560 MB/sec | 2190 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 132.6 Klines/sec | 198.5 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 382.9 pages/sec | 557.3 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 393.2 Mpixels/sec | 648.9 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 301 pages/sec | 309.1 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 61.4 images/sec | 68.9 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 144.1 images/sec | 183.5 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 19.7 Mpixels/sec | 30.6 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 55.9 GOps/sec | 91.2 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 64.8 GOps/sec | 131.5 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 240M Primes/sec | 573M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 35.2M Strings/sec | 61.7M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 14.4 GBytes/sec | 24.7 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 288.5 MBytes/sec | 530.4 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 2060 Frames/sec | 4332 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 14.1B Matrices/sec | 24.2B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 35.3 PPW | 30.3 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 517.1 PPW | 378 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 801.5 PPW | 735.9 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 7.62 PPW | 7.21 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Apple M3 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2026-01-25 (Kirich) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3198 / 14601 |
| ๐ 2026-01-25 (Kirich) | Cinebench 2024 | 150 / 946 |
Apple M3 Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin) | Cinebench 2024 | 142 / 1698 |
| ๐ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1) | Cinebench 2024 | 141 / 1459 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Apple M3 Pro and M3 MaxGeneral
| Vendor | Apple | Apple |
| Released | October 30, 2023 | October 30, 2023 |
| Type | Laptop | Laptop |
| Instruction Set | ARMv8 | ARMv8 |
| Codename | Apple M3 | Apple M3 |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) | Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) |
| Successor | - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) |
CPU
| P-Cores | 6 | 12 |
| P-Threads | 6 | 12 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 4.05 GHz | 4.05 GHz |
| E-Cores | 6 | 4 |
| E-Threads | 6 | 4 |
| Base Frequency (E) | 2.75 GHz | 2.75 GHz |
| Total Cores | 12 | 16 |
| Total Threads | 12 | 16 |
| Multiplier | 40x | 40x |
| L1 Cache | 192K (per core) | 192K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 16MB (shared) | 32MB (shared) |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | No |
Package
| Transistors | 37 billions | 92 billions |
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| TDP (PL1) | 30 W | 56 W |
| Socket | Apple M-Socket | Apple M-Socket |
| Peak Temperature | 100ยฐC | 100ยฐC |
Laptop processors ranking (44th and 15th place)
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) | Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) |
| GPU Base Clock | 500 MHz | 500 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1380 MHz | 1380 MHz |
| Shading Units | 2304 | 5120 |
| TMUs | 144 | 320 |
| ROPs | 72 | 160 |
| Execution Units | 288 | 640 |
| TGP | 30 W | 60 W |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory Support
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5-6400 | - LPDDR5-6400 |
| Max. Memory Size | 36 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory Channels | 12 | 32 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 153.6 GB/s | 409.6 GB/s |
| ECC Support | No | No |
Misc
| PCI Express Version | 4.0 | 4.0 |
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Total votes: 396
