By akademiotoelektronik, 09/11/2022

Apple M1 Max: Is it really at the level of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile?It is discussed

Is the Apple M1 Max at the level of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile as Apple boasts?Here are lots of answers.Prepare, the comparison is not so easy.

While waiting for the first tests where we will have independent benchmarks which will give us a precise idea of what the Apple M1 Pro and Max fleas have in selling, let's take an interest in Apple's affirmations concerning the graphic power of its fleas.

9 /10

Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021

Fiche produitVoir le test 2 248 €9 /10

Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021

Fiche produitVoir le test 2 749 €

As a reminder, Apple therefore unveiled its two new MacBook Pro, 14.2 and 16.2 inches, which are entitled to two homemade Arm chips for professionals: the M1 Pro and M1 Max fleas.

As we specify, you have a good ten different configurations, which is not necessarily to be apprehended for neophytes.In any case, we can summarize the characteristics of the two chips like that:

Regarding the integrated graphic chip (IGPU), it has no name, because we speak generally of an SOC (System on Chip) which integrates all the components.We just know that Apple worked on a personalized GPU architecture which goes from 14 to 32 cores depending on the versions.These hearts benefit from a much wider memory bus.Apple especially insisted on the effectiveness of this IGPU, that is to say its power-consumption relationship.

In this case, Apple opposed the M1 Pro chip to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 TI 4 GB, the Apple chip reaching similar performance with 70 % less energy.From what we understand, this GPU block would consume about 30 watts, against 75-80 watts for the DGPU RTX 3050 Ti.In the graph supplied by Apple below, we learn that the device used by this benchmark was a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop (82JW0012us) equipped with UNC CPU AMD RYZEN 7 5800H with 16 GB of RAM DDR4 memory.

In the graphic graph, Apple set out to compare its Apple M1 Max chip with two laptops.Apple does not specify which version of the M1 Max which was used, we imagine that it is that with 32 cores.The comparison was made with two gaming laptops, the MSI Ge76 Raider (IPS Full HD @ 360 Hz, Intel Core i7-10870H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 and 32 GB of RAM) and the Razer Blade 15 Advanced (OLED 4K @60 Hz, Intel Core i9-11900h, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 in 16 GB version and 32 GB of RAM).These are two big configurations that we had the opportunity to test.

Most of the size of the matrix of the M1 Max chip is occupied by the GPU with 32 cores, with a power announced at 10.4 tflop (teraflops).The graphic part takes up so much space that one could speak of a GPU surrounded by a SoC, and not of a SoC that hosts a GPU.You follow ?On the performance side, Apple fights with the best on the market, therefore comparing the performance of the M1 Max chip to a GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile.The M1 Max would therefore reach similar performance with 100 watts of less power (60 watts vs 160 watts).

Razer Blade 15 Advanced

What seems obvious is that Apple comes to rub the most powerful portable machines on the market.These machines are purchased by creatives, developers and players.Apple, for its part, obviously targets creatives and developers.As Cassim specifies, in his editorial, this approach is very frustrating, because it puts aside the players.MacBook does not offer the versatility offered by AMD-Intel-Nvidia machines under Windows 10/11.

To go further Apple MacBook Pro 2021: what is amazing me incredibly frustrated me

As you can see, the graphics provided by Apple are very imprecise and do not really understand what has been measured.What does it give in reality?

The delicate comparison

When the PS5 and Xbox Series X arrived, we compared the two consoles long and wide.They share the same architecture, supplied by AMD, so it's rather simple.We often use the Teraflops measurement unit (tflops), strongly supported by the marketing departments of brands.Microsoft, for example, announced with great fanfare that the Xbox Series X will have the right to a graphical power of 12 TFOPS, or 12 teraflops.

As you can see, the theoretical power of the GPU of the Apple M1 Max chip is comparable to that of the GPU of a PS5, but largely below the chips of Nvidia.For comparison, the latest Nintendo Switch Oled is at ... 0.4 teraflop, while a PS4 is at 1.84 teraflops.You have to be careful with this measurement.This is a way of measuring the raw power of mathematical calculation of a processor.The problem is that raw power is not enough to summarize the complex architecture of a processor or a graphic chip.We will take other criteria such as architecture, bandwidth, the use of RAM, the difference in video memory capacity and so on.

All these elements make it risky to compare the processor teraflops using different architectures to conclude on a difference in performance, which is more when they come from different brands.

It is therefore rather necessary to turn to synthetic benchmarks and real test comparisons on software.While waiting for the possibility of getting their hands on machines, synthetic benchmarks let the scores obtained by first users pass by.

The first synthetic benchmarks

We thus obtained the scores of GFXBENCH, a tool which has a certain reputation in the environment.The Apple M1 Max chip obtained 703.2 images per second in the normal level of "Aztec Ruins" (Off screen, 1080p) and 275.9 images per second in the high level (Off screen, 1440p).

We synthesized these first results in a graph, in green (off, 1080p) and blue (off screen, 1440p), the tests of the RTX 3080 mobile obtained were carried out on a low consumption variant of the chip (its poweris dependent on various variables such as the chassis of the device for example).Note that the off -screen results are more precise, as this deletes the definition of the screen as a potential factor.

What to conclude from this first test?First, we have no idea of the Apple M1 Max test conditions, is it a 24 or 32 core version?Then, the Apple M1 Max chip is an unprecedented chip with unprecedented performances.We are talking about an ARM SoC, we must remember.On a laptop PC, the dedicated graphics chip often has its own video memory and its own active cooling system.This is not the case with Apple, the Apple M1 Max is an all-in-one chip with unified memory.

Finally, Apple has not designed its chip for games, so it will be much more relevant to use other synthetic benchmarks than those of GFXBENCH and above all to compare the performance of professional software under specific conditions.It will also be necessary to compare consumption, when the laptop is in the mains and on battery, this is where the Apple M1 Max shines and that augurs very good things for the future.We imagine how Apple will be able to continue to increase the number of graphic cores in a more energy -consuming configuration, like that of a Mac Pro.

A completely coherent pricing positioning

You have to pay 3209 euros for the least expensive configuration with an Apple M1 Max chip (24 cores and 16 GB of unified memory).At this price, there are very solid configurations of laptops, with GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile, a powerful AMD or Intel CPU and 32 GB of RAM.Apple's proposal seems to be, at first glance, quite coherent in terms of price.This declaration is not necessarily valid on less expensive portable machines equipped with a RTX 3060 or 3070 DGPU, which could be compared with the MacBook Pro equipped with an Apple M1 Pro chip, we find between 1000 and 1700euros.

In addition, let us also quote Nvidia's advance in certain areas such as AI.GeForce RTX graphics cards, for example, integrate RT hearts dedicated to Ray Tracing calculations.Thus, new resources are allocated to developers and creative, as well as players.What is more, many software aspects have been developed, including the DirectX Raytracing bookstore on Windows 10 and 11 which allows developers to take advantage of technology.

Afterwards, once again, Apple machines are certainly more effective for working, especially since the performance obtained seems to be relatively stable even when the laptop is on battery (which is not at all the case on laptops).On the other hand, they dismiss, de facto, the players who want to have a versatile machine to work, but also play.

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