Apple M2 Max vs Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 vs Intel Core 2 Duo T6600
Apple M2 Max
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The Apple M2 Max is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the early 2023 MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch models. It offers all 12 CPU cores available in the chip divided in eight performance cores (P-cores) and four power-efficiency cores (E-cores). The E-cores clock with up to 3.4 GHz, the P-Cores up to 3.7 GHz (mostly 3.3 GHz in multi-threaded workloads and 3.4 GHz in single threaded).
The big cores (codename Avalanche) offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 36 MB shared L2 cache (up from 24 MB in the M1 Pro). The four efficiency cores (codename Blizzard) are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. CPU and GPU can both use the 49 MB SLC (System Level Cache).
The unified memory (32, 64, or 96 GB LPDDR5-6400) next to the chip is connected by a 512 Bit memory controller (400 GB/s bandwidth) and can be used by the GPU and CPU.
The CPU performance should be quite similar to the M2 Pro as only the higher memory bandwidth and bigger L3 cache could make a difference for some workloads.
The integrated graphics card in the M1 Max offers a 30-core GPU or a GPU with all 38 cores.
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine (faster than M1 Max), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders (including ProRes).
The M2 Max is manufactured in 5 nm at TSMC (second generation) and integrates 40 billion transistors. The power consumption of the CPU part is up to 36 Watt according to powermetrics. When fully loading the CPU and GPU cores, the chip uses up to 89 Watt and the CPU part is limited to 25 Watt.
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500
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The Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 was a upper middle class dual core CPU for laptops at the time of introduction. It was intended to be used in the Santa Rosa platform due to the 800 MHz FSB. The T9550 is only slightly higher clocked but offers already a FSB1066.
Due to the relatively high clock speed and 6MB Level 2 cache, the T9500 offers enough performance for demanding games (in 2009) and applications.
The T9500 uses a Penryn (Montevina Update) core that features 2 integer units, 1 floating point unit, 1 load unit, and 1 store unit in a 14-stages long pipeline. Due to the Wide Dynamic Execution Technology, the core is able to simultaneously execute up to four instructions.
The integrated Enhanced Speedstep is able to downclock the core dynamically to save power (in idle mode).
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 is an entry to mid-range dual core processor for laptops. It is based on the Penryn architecture, but features only 2 MB level 2 cache and a mediocre clock rate of 2.2 GHz. Compared to the similar T6670, the T6600 does not feature Virtualization features in hardware and is speced at a lower maximum temperature.
The performance should be suited for non demanding applications like office, internet, entry level video editing or image correction. CPU intense games may be limited by the power of the T6600.
| Model | Apple M2 Max | Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 | Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 | ||||||||||||||||
| Series | Apple M2 | Intel Core 2 Duo | Intel Core 2 Duo | ||||||||||||||||
| Series: Core 2 Duo Penryn |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Clock | 2424 - 3696 MHz | 2600 MHz | 2200 MHz | ||||||||||||||||
| L1 Cache | 3.3 MB | 128 KB | 128 KB | ||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 36 MB | 6 MB | 2 MB | ||||||||||||||||
| L3 Cache | 48 MB | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 12 / 12 | 2 / 2 | 2 / 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| TDP | 79 Watt | 35 Watt | 35 Watt | ||||||||||||||||
| Transistors | 67000 Million | 410 Million | 410 Million | ||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 5 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | ||||||||||||||||
| Features | ARMv8 Instruction Set | Virtualization Technolgoy (VT-x), Intel 64, Idle States, Enhanced Speedstep, Execute Disable Bit | Intel 64, Enhanced Speedstep, Execute Disable Bit, SSE4.1 | ||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | Apple M2 Max 38-Core GPU | ||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | ARM | x86 | x86 | ||||||||||||||||
| Announced | |||||||||||||||||||
| Codename | Penryn | Penryn | |||||||||||||||||
| FSB | 800 | 800 | |||||||||||||||||
| Voltage | 1.0-1.25V V | 1.00-1.25V V | |||||||||||||||||
| Die Size | 107 mm2 | 107 mm2 | |||||||||||||||||
| max. Temp. | 105 °C | 105 °C | |||||||||||||||||
| Socket | BGA479, PGA478, PPGA478 | PGA478 | |||||||||||||||||
| $530 U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | ark.intel.com | ark.intel.com |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks Apple M2 Max → 0% n=0
Average Benchmarks Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 → 0% n=0
Average Benchmarks Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 → 0% n=0
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
