Apple M3 Pro 12-Core vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 vs Apple M3

Apple M3 Pro 12-Core

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).

AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370

The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a powerful Strix Point family processor that debuted in June 2024. The APU comes with 12 CPU cores running at 2.0 GHz to 5.1 GHz, the 16 CU RDNA 3+ Radeon 890M graphics adapter and the 50 TOPS XDNA 2 neural engine. Other noteworthy features include PCIe 4, USB 4 and LPDDR5x-8000 RAM support.

Of the 12 CPU cores, 4 are full Zen 5 cores and 8 are smaller Zen 5c cores. The latter run at significantly lower clock speeds than the former.

Architecture and Features

Strix Point family APUs are powered by Zen 5 and Zen 5c microarchitecture cores, the latter being a slightly slower, smaller and more energy-efficient version of the former. One of the differences between Zen 5 and Zen 5c is cache size; Zen 5 cores have larger caches to work with. According to AMD, Zen 5 delivers a 16% IPC improvement over Zen 4 thanks to branch prediction improvements and other refinements.

Elsewhere, the HX 370 supports LPDDR5x-8000 and DDR5-5600 RAM, and is natively compatible with USB 4 (and therefore Thunderbolt). It has PCIe 4.0 support for a throughput of 1.9 GB/s per lane, just like its 8000 series predecessors did. The integrated XDNA 2 NPU delivers up to 50 INT8 TOPS for accelerating various AI workloads.

Performance

Given the IPC improvement, we expect 4 Zen 5 cores combined with 8 Zen 5c cores to perform about as well as 16 Zen 4 cores meaning there is a real chance of the HX 370 dethroning the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. We'll make sure to update this section once we get our hands on a laptop powered by the HX 370.

Graphics

The Radeon 890M is the most powerful iGPU that AMD has on offer right now. It features 16 RDNA 3+ architecture CUs (1024 unified shaders) running at up to 2,900 MHz. We expect the graphics adapter to deliver gaming performance good enough for playing 2023 and 2024 games in 1080p (Low detail settings).

Naturally, the 890M is capable of driving four SUHD 4320p60 monitors. It can also efficiently encode and decode the most popular video codecs including AVC, HEVC, VP9 and AV1. The latest addition to that list, the VVC codec, is not supported unlike it is with Intel Lunar Lake chips.

Power consumption

The HX 370 is supposed to have a base TDP of 28 W, with laptop makers free to crank it up to up to 54 W. Which they will most likely do to maximize performance.

The 4 nm TSMC process that the CPU cores are built with make for decent, as of mid 2024, energy efficiency.

Apple M3

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 running at up 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 adapter with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration called Apple M3 10-Core GPU. 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). Later in early 2025 Apple also introduced a 9-core variant in the new iPad Air models. 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 network module only supports Wi-Fi 6E (no Wi-Fi 7) and due to the support of only a single external monitor, the chip also has to make do with no Thunderbolt 4 (Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 support only for up to 40 Gbit/s).

The chip is manufactured on the current 3nm TSMC process (N3B most likely) 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 consumes approximately 20 Watt.