Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) vs M1 GPU (8-core)
We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) with 608 pipelines and 4864 shaders against the 2 years and 2 months older M1 GPU (8-core) that utilizes 128 pipelines and 1024 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.
Review
Gaming
Performance in DirectX, OpenCL, and Vulkan games
Workstation
Perf. in 3D modeling, video editing and rendering apps
AI/ML
Capabilities for machine learning and AI-related tasks
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
DeviceFacts Final Score
Overall video card score
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
- Performs significantly better (up to 4.8x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
- 5.2x higher maximum theoretical performance (13.6 vs 2.6 TFLOPS)
- Has 6x higher memory bandwidth: 409.6 vs 68.2 GB/s
- Achieves 4.2x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (86K vs 20K)
- Has 4.8x more shading units (4864 vs 1024)
Benchmarks
Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps3D Mark
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Solar Bay | 30368 | 6317 |
| Wild Life Extreme | 24948 | 4966 |
GeekBench 6 OpenCL
GB6 Compute Score
| Background Blur | 149 img/sec | 38.3 img/sec |
| Face Detection | 98.1 img/sec | 23 img/sec |
| Horizon Detection | 3.8 Gpixels/sec | 0.76 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge Detection | 6.88 Gpixels/sec | 1.33 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian Blur | 4.44 Gpixels/sec | 0.87 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature Matching | 0.73 Gpixels/sec | 0.27 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo Matching | 264.9 Gpixels/sec | 69.9 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle Physics | 11144.2 FPS | 2766.4 FPS |
| API | OpenCL | OpenCL |
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Blender
Blender GPU
Artificial Intelligence Tests
Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasksGeekBench 6 ML
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
| Image Classification (SP) | 6657 | 1400 |
| Image Segmentation (HP) | 13854 | 2280 |
| Image Super Resolution (Q) | 18642 | 3402 |
| Face Detection (HP) | 27965 | 5638 |
| Pose Estimation (Q) | 83144 | 12027 |
| Text Classification (SP) | 2377 | 2324 |
| Machine Translation (HP) | 2052 | 4296 |
| Object Detection (SP) | 6495 | 1530 |
| Depth Estimation (Q) | 31105 | 7675 |
| Style Transfer (SP) | 135686 | 17293 |
| Framework | Core ML | Core ML |
| Backend | GPU | CPU |
Specifications
Technical specifications of Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) and M1 GPU (8-core)General
| Vendor | Apple | Apple |
| Build | Integrated | Integrated |
| Released | January 17, 2023 | November 20, 2020 |
| Case | Laptop | Laptop |
| Purpose | Professional | Professional |
| Segment | High-end | Mid-range |
| Architecture | Apple M GPU | Apple M GPU |
| Rival Equivalent | - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop | - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile |
| Successor | - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) | - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) |
| Recommended CPU | - | - Apple M1 or above |
| Used in CPUs | - Apple M2 Max | - Apple M1 |
Laptop GPU ranking (42nd and 105th place)
Graphics Processing Unit
| Base Clock | 450 MHz | 450 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1398 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| Shading Units | 4864 | 1024 |
| Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) | 304 | 64 |
| Render Output Units (ROPs) | 152 | 32 |
| Compute Units (Pipelines) | 608 | 128 |
| Ray-tracing Cores | - | No |
| Instructions Per Cycle | 2 IPC | 2 IPC |
Raw Performance
| Pixel Fill Rate | 212 GPixel/s | 41 GPixel/s |
| Texture Fill Rate | 425 GTexel/s | 82 GTexel/s |
FLOPS (FP32)
Physical
| Interface | Custom | Custom |
| TGP | 70 W | 15 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | Intel |
| Fabrication Process | 5 nm | 5 nm |
| Transistor Count | 52 billion | 11.6 billion |
| Max. Temperature | 94°C | 94°C |
Memory
| Memory Type | System Shared | System Shared |
| Memory Clock | 6400 MHz | 4266 MHz |
| Effective Memory Speed | 12800 Mbps | 8532 Mbps |
| Bus | 512-bit | 128-bit |
| ECC | No | No |
Memory Bandwidth
API
| Ray Tracing | No | No |
| DLSS | No | No |
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