Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores) vs Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)

We compared two integrated laptop graphics cards: the Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores) with 128 pipelines and 1024 shaders against the 11 months older Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) that utilizes 608 pipelines and 4864 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.

Review

General comparison of performance in games, applications, power efficiency, and other metrics
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

Key distinctions and advantages of M2 Max GPU (38-core) over Arc iGPU (8-Cores)
Reasons to consider the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
  • 2.8x higher maximum theoretical performance (13.6 vs 4.8 TFLOPS)
  • Achieves 2.9x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (86K vs 30K)
  • Has 4.8x more shading units (4864 vs 1024)

Benchmarks

Graphics cardsโ€™ performance in recent benchmarking apps

3D Mark

Multiplatform graphics benchmark suite that directly correlates with performance in modern games
Steel Nomad Lite Score
Solar Bay - 30368
Wild Life Extreme - 24948
Sources: 3DMark [1]

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
Background Blur 66.6 img/sec 149 img/sec
Face Detection 28.4 img/sec 98.1 img/sec
Horizon Detection 0.87 Gpixels/sec 3.8 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 1.24 Gpixels/sec 6.88 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 1.82 Gpixels/sec 4.44 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.3 Gpixels/sec 0.73 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 102.4 Gpixels/sec 264.9 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 6543.8 FPS 11144.2 FPS
API OpenCL OpenCL
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]

Cinebench 2024 GPU

Hardware benchmark using Maxon's Cinema 4D rendering engine
Cinebench 2024 GPU

Blender

Rendering performance test for 3D modeling
Blender GPU
Sources: Blender [9] โ€“ 301 samples

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-02-22 (Catt)Steel Nomad Light2669
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-01-15 (Ak-Dev)Geekbench 6 OpenCL64108
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-08 (Anuj)Geekbench 6 OpenCL35379
Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
No benchmark results yet

Artificial Intelligence Tests

Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks

GeekBench 6 ML

Tests throughput of AI operations in single, half, and quantized precision
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
Image Classification (SP) 2540 6657
Image Segmentation (HP) 7387 13854
Image Super Resolution (Q) 4047 18642
Face Detection (HP) 8563 27965
Pose Estimation (Q) 11171 83144
Text Classification (SP) 819 2377
Machine Translation (HP) 2228 2052
Object Detection (SP) 2725 6495
Depth Estimation (Q) 7794 31105
Style Transfer (SP) 34572 135686
Framework ONNX Core ML
Backend DirectML GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]
Results were compared using different ML frameworks

Specifications

Technical specifications of Intel Arc iGPU (8-Cores) and Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released December 14, 2023 January 17, 2023
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Generic Professional
Segment Mid-range High-end
Architecture Xe LPG Apple M GPU
Rival Equivalent - Radeon 760M - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
Successor - Intel Arc 140V - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core)
Recommended CPU - Intel Core Ultra 5 135H or above -
Used in CPUs - Intel Core Ultra 5 135H
- Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
- Intel Core Ultra 7 165H
- Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
- Apple M2 Max
Laptop GPU ranking (86th and 42nd place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
Boost Clock 2200-2350 MHz (configurable) 1398 MHz
Shading Units 1024 4864
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 64 304
Render Output Units (ROPs) 32 152
Compute Units (Pipelines) 128 608
Ray-tracing Cores 8 -
L1 Cache 1536KB shared -
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 70-75 GPixel/s 212 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate 141-150 GTexel/s 425 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
4.5-4.8 TFLOPS
13.6 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Ring Bus Custom
TGP 28 W 70 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 5 nm 5 nm
Transistor Count - 52 billion
Max. Temperature - 94ยฐC

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock - 6400 MHz
Effective Memory Speed - 12800 Mbps
Bus - 512-bit
ECC - No
Memory Bandwidth

API

DirectX 12 -
Vulkan 1.3 -
OpenGL 4.6 -
OpenCL 3.0 -
Ray Tracing Yes No
DLSS No No
DisplayPort 2.1 -

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