Apple M3 10-Core GPU vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q vs Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU

Apple M3 10-Core GPU

The 10-core Apple M3 GPU is an integrated graphics adapter designed by Apple that features 10 cores. This iGPU is built into the Apple M3 SoC and it uses the unified memory architecture (up to 24 GB LPDDR5-6400 with 100 GB/s bandwidth). Compared to M2 series GPUs, this new graphics adapter uses a new architecture with support for mesh shading and ray tracing. Dynamic caching is another new feature worth mentioning - it is coming to optimize shared memory usage.

In our testing, the M3 GPU (10 cores) mostly was 5% to 20% faster than the 10-core M2 GPU depending on the task.

Just like the rest of the Apple M3 chip, the graphics adapter is manufactured on a 3 nm TSMC process (possibly N3B). Our MBP 14 review revealed sustained power consumption figures of around 15 W for the iGPU.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with the Max-Q design is a mobile high-end GPU from the Pascal series. It is designed for thin and light laptops and about 10-15% slower than a regular GTX 1060 for laptops based on the cooling capabilities. The base frequency (1063-1265 MHz) is also much lower than on the regular GTX 1060 (1506 MHz, at least -16%) and the Boost (1341-1480 MHz) is also much lower compared to 1708 MHz (at least -13%) for the regular GTX 1060. The memory clock, however, is identical.

The clock is not the only difference compared to the regular GTX 1060 though. The drivers for the Max-Q version were optimized for efficiency (and not performance; only for Max-Q models), there are optimized voltage converters for 1V operation, high-end cooling methods, and a 40 dB limit for the fan noise (with clock adjustments to ensure this at all times).

Features

The GP106 chip is produced in 16nm FinFET at TSMC and offers a range of new features, like DisplayPort 1.4 (ready), HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and improved H.265 video de- and encoding (PlayReady 3.0). A list of improvements and features can be found in our article on the Pascal architecture.

The power consumption of the Max-Q design is notably lower than the normal GTX 1060 for laptops and ranges between 60 and 70 Watt (TGP) according to Nvidia.

Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU

The Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU is a self-designed graphics card in the Apple M3 Pro (with 12 CPU cores) and offers all eighteen cores available on the chip. The graphics card uses a new architecture and now offers dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration.

The GPU can access up to 36 GB LPDDR5-6400 unified memory via a 192-bit memory bus (max 150 GBit/s). Thanks to dynamic caching, the GPU only reserves as much memory as is required.

The entire chip is manufactured in the current 3nm process (probably N3B) at TSMC.