Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) vs M2 GPU (8-core)
We compared two integrated laptop professional GPUs: the Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) with 288 pipelines and 2304 shaders against the 1 year and 5 months older M2 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 M3 Pro GPU (18-core)
- Performs significantly better (up to 2.6x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
- 2.2x higher maximum theoretical performance (6.4 vs 2.9 TFLOPS)
- Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
- Has 50% higher memory bandwidth: 153.6 vs 102.4 GB/s
- Achieves 45% more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (43K vs 29K)
- Has 2.3x more shading units (2304 vs 1024)
Benchmarks
Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps3D Mark
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Solar Bay | 22637 | 7316 |
| Wild Life Extreme | 14021 | 5676 |
GeekBench 6 OpenCL
GB6 Compute Score
| Background Blur | 82.1 img/sec | 58.7 img/sec |
| Face Detection | 53.6 img/sec | 35.2 img/sec |
| Horizon Detection | 1.82 Gpixels/sec | 1.1 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge Detection | 2.59 Gpixels/sec | 1.82 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian Blur | 1.84 Gpixels/sec | 1.2 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature Matching | 0.48 Gpixels/sec | 0.37 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo Matching | 148.6 Gpixels/sec | 96 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle Physics | 4893.9 FPS | 3825.9 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) | 5578 | 3242 |
| Image Segmentation (HP) | 9924 | 4890 |
| Image Super Resolution (Q) | 13323 | 7149 |
| Face Detection (HP) | 19900 | 10340 |
| Pose Estimation (Q) | 35730 | 21268 |
| Text Classification (SP) | 2904 | 2268 |
| Machine Translation (HP) | 4985 | 1122 |
| Object Detection (SP) | 5496 | 3007 |
| Depth Estimation (Q) | 23344 | 13941 |
| Style Transfer (SP) | 78342 | 35943 |
| Framework | Core ML | Core ML |
| Backend | GPU | GPU |
Specifications
Technical specifications of Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) and M2 GPU (8-core)General
| Vendor | Apple | Apple |
| Build | Integrated | Integrated |
| Released | October 31, 2023 | June 6, 2022 |
| Case | Laptop | Laptop |
| Purpose | Professional | Professional |
| Segment | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Architecture | Apple M GPU | Apple M GPU |
| GPU Codename | Custom | - |
| Rival Equivalent | - GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop | - |
| Successor | - Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) | - Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) |
| Recommended CPU | - Apple M3 Pro or above | - Apple M2 or above |
| Used in CPUs | - Apple M3 Pro | - Apple M2 |
Laptop GPU ranking (61st and 90th place)
Graphics Processing Unit
| Base Clock | 500 MHz | 500 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1380 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| Shading Units | 2304 | 1024 |
| Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) | 144 | 64 |
| Render Output Units (ROPs) | 72 | 32 |
| Compute Units (Pipelines) | 288 | 128 |
| Instructions Per Cycle | 2 IPC | 2 IPC |
Raw Performance
| Pixel Fill Rate | 99 GPixel/s | 45 GPixel/s |
| Texture Fill Rate | 199 GTexel/s | 89 GTexel/s |
FLOPS (FP32)
Physical
| Interface | Custom | Custom |
| TGP | 30 W | 15 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 5 nm |
| Transistor Count | 25.2 billion | 11.6 billion |
| Max. Temperature | 100°C | 94°C |
Memory
| Memory Type | System Shared | System Shared |
| Memory Clock | 6400 MHz | 6400 MHz |
| Effective Memory Speed | 12800 Mbps | 12800 Mbps |
| Bus | 192-bit | 128-bit |
| ECC | No | No |
Memory Bandwidth
API
| Ray Tracing | Yes | No |
| DLSS | No | No |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1