Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
MagyarApple M3 Pro 12-Core vs Apple M3
Apple M3 Pro 12-Core
► remove from comparison
The Apple M3 Pro (12 Core) is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was launched in late 2023. It integrates a new 12-core CPU with 6 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 6 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz. There is also a slimmed-down 11-core variant with a 14-core GPU.
Compared to the M2 Pro the M3 Pro has been slimmed down somewhat and swaps two performance cores for efficiency cores. This is due to the changed core configuration, as 6 cores are now used per cluster (the M2 Pro and M3 still have 4 cores per cluster). Furthermore, the memory bus has been reduced from 256 bits to 192 bits (150 GB/s vs. 200 GB/s). However, thanks to the new architecture and higher clock rates, the new M3 Pro is still slightly faster.
The M3 Pro also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the top model, all 18 cores of the chip are used and support up to 3 displays simultaneously (internal and 2 external).
GPU and CPU can jointly access the shared memory on the package (unified memory). This is available in 18 or 36 GB variants and offers 150 GB/s maximum bandwidth (192 bit bus).
The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (compared to 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now also supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded.
Unfortunately, the integrated WLAN only continues to support WiFi 6E (no WiFi 7), unlike the small M3 SoC thunderbolt 4 is also supported (max 40 Gbit/s).
The chip is manufactured in the current 3nm process (N3B) at TSMC and contains 37 billion transistors (-7.5% vs. Apple M2 Pro).
Apple M3
► remove from comparison
The Apple M3 is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced in late 2023. It integrates a new 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 4 efficiency cores withup to 2.75 GHz. Apple claims that the CPU is up to 20% faster than in the old Apple M2 (3.5 GHz).
Due to the higher clock speeds and architecture improvements, the processor performance is also significantly better than the M2 in benchmarks (see e.g. Geekbench below) and can keep up with the fastest CPUs in short single-core tests (like the Raptor Lake i9-13950HX).
The M3 also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration. According to Apple, it is 20% faster than the GPU in the M2. The chip integrates again 10 GPU cores, but the cheaper variant only offers 8 cores (e.g. in the entry iMac). Furthermore, the GPU only supports 2 displays (an additional 6K60 display to the internal one).
Both GPU and CPU can access the unified memory on the package together. It is still available in 8, 16 and 24 GB variants and offers the same 100 GB/s maximum bandwidth (unlike the Pro models that feature a reduced memory bandwidth).
The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (versus 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded.
Unfortunately, the integrated wireless-LAN only supports Wi-Fi 6E (no Wi-Fi 7) and due to the support of only a single external monitor, the chip is also denied Thunderbolt 4 (Thunderbolt 3/USB4 support officially with 40 Gbit/s).
The chip is manufactured in the current 3nm process (N3B most likely) at TSMC and contains 25 billion transistors (+25% vs. Apple M2). The 3nm process should also contribute to the excellent efficiency of the chip. Under load, the M3 CPU is using approximately 20 Watt.
| Model | Apple M3 Pro 12-Core | Apple M3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | Apple Apple M3 | Apple Apple M3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series: Apple M3 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clock | 2748 - 4056 MHz | 2748 - 4056 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 12 / 12 6 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core 6 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core | 8 / 8 4 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core 4 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TDP | 27 Watt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transistors | 37000 Million | 25000 Million | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 3 nm | 3 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | ARMv8 Instruction Set | ARMv8 Instruction Set | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU | Apple M3 10-Core GPU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | ARM | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | www.apple.com | www.apple.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 4 MB |
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card