Apple M3 Ultra vs M2 Max

95 out of 100
Apple M3 Ultra
VS
65 out of 100
Apple M2 Max

We compared two CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Ultra (desktop) with 32-cores against the 3.5 GHz M2 Max (laptop) with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

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
100
47
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.
🔌 Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

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

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and Ultra
Advantages of Apple M3 Ultra
  • Supports up to 512 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Has 20 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 2 years and 2 months later
  • More powerful Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) integrated graphics: 28.3 vs 13.6 TFLOPS
  • Around 409.7 GB/s (100%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • 21% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3266 vs 2695 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
vs

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Ultra +16%
141
122
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Ultra +193%
2994
1022
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 11987 -
Cinebench Scores (2nd and 148th place)

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M3 Ultra +21%
3266
2695
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Ultra +100%
29755
14891
File compression 2690 MB/sec 1690 MB/sec
Clang compilation 319.2 Klines/sec 131.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 819.6 pages/sec 368.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 701.5 Mpixels/sec 382.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 327.5 pages/sec 272.7 pages/sec
Background blur 63.2 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Photo processing 190.9 images/sec 149.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 61.5 Mpixels/sec 17 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 693 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Ultra +22%
5064
4136
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Ultra +171%
72850
26843
Integer math 181.6 GOps/sec 57.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 183.5 GOps/sec 73.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 1063M Primes/sec 359M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 123.1M Strings/sec 41.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 49.4 GBytes/sec 15.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 1076.9 MBytes/sec 335.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 8863 Frames/sec 3849 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 55.1B Matrices/sec 14.7B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 27 & 1034 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Ultra +184%
717.7
253.11

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 21.4 PPW 20.4 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 212.5 PPW 297.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 520.4 PPW 536.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 5.13 PPW 5.06 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 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-08-13 (Losito)Cinebench 202493 / 2422
📘 2025-03-17 (Luigi9212)Cinebench 2024148 / 2818
📘 2025-03-16 (Tyler)Cinebench 2024133 / 2753
Apple M2 Max
No benchmark results yet

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Ultra and M2 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released March 5, 2025 January 17, 2023
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M3 Apple M2
Integrated GPU Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
Successor - - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 24 8
P-Threads 24 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 3.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 32 12
Total Threads 32 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 40x 35x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 64MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 184 billions 67 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 140 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (#4th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
GPU Base Clock - 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 10240 4864
TMUs 640 304
ROPs 320 152
Execution Units 1280 608
TGP 140 W 70 W
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Ultra +108%
28.3 TFLOPS
13.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 512 GB 96 GB
Memory Channels 64 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 819.3 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Max or M3 Ultra?
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