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Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU vs AMD Radeon RX 6550M vs Apple M3 Max 30-Core GPU

Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU

► remove from comparison Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU

The Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU is a self-designed graphics card in the Apple M3 Pro (with 11 CPU cores) and offers fourteen of the 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 24 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.

AMD Radeon RX 6550M

► remove from comparison AMD Radeon RX 6550M

The AMD Radeon RX 6550M is a mobile entry-level graphics card based on the Navi 24 chip (RDNA 2  architecture) manufactured in the modern 6nm process. It features 1024 cores (16 CUs - compute units) and 4 GB of fast GDDR6 graphics memory connected with a 64 Bit memory bus. The chip also includes 16 MB Infinity Cache. The game clock speed is specified at 2560 MHz. Compared to the RX 6500M, the 6550M offers an increased core clock (+17%) but the memory bus i cut in half (64 versus 128 Bit).

The performance should be slightly higher than an average RX 6500M, as long as the memory bandwidth reduction wont has a too big impact.

The Navi 24 chip is manufactured at TSMC in the modern 6nm process and should offer a good energy efficiency. The RX6550M is specified at a TDP of 50 - 80 Watt and therefore best suited for normal multimedia laptops.

Apple M3 Max 30-Core GPU

► remove from comparison Apple M3 Max 30-Core GPU

The Apple M3 Max 30-Core GPU is a self-designed graphics card in the Apple M3 SoC and offers 30 of the 40 cores that are included in the chip. According to Apple, the GPU uses a new architecture and now offers dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration.

The graphics card can access up to 96 GB LPDDR5-6400 unified memory via a 512 bit memory bus (max 400 GBit/s). Thanks to dynamic caching, the GPU only reserves as much memory as is required.

Since the SoC is manufactured in the current 3nm (probably N3B) at TSMC.

Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPUAMD Radeon RX 6550MApple M3 Max 30-Core GPU
Apple M3 Series
M3 Max 40-Core GPU 40
M3 Max 30-Core GPU 30
M3 Pro 18-Core GPU 18
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU 14
M3 10-Core GPU 10
M3 8-Core GPU 8
Radeon RX 6850M XT 2560 @ 2.46 GHz192 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6800M 2560 @ 2.12 - 2.3 GHz192 Bit @ 16000 MHz
Radeon RX 6800S 2048 @ 1.8 - 1.98 GHz128 Bit @ 16000 MHz
Radeon RX 6700M 2304 @ 2.3 GHz160 Bit @ 16000 MHz
Radeon RX 6650M XT 2048 @ 2.16 GHz128 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6650M 1792 @ 2.22 GHz128 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6600M 1792 @ 2.07 - 2.18 GHz128 Bit @ 14000 MHz
Radeon RX 6700S 1792 @ 1.7 - 1.89 GHz128 Bit @ 14000 MHz
Radeon PRO W6600M 1792 128 Bit @ 14000 MHz
Radeon RX 6600S 1792 @ 1.88 GHz128 Bit @ 16000 MHz
Radeon RX 6550M 1024 @ 2 - 2.56 GHz64 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6500M 1024 @ 2.19 GHz64 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6550S 1024 @ 2.17 GHz64 Bit @ 16000 MHz
Radeon RX 6450M 768 @ 2 - 2.22 GHz64 Bit @ 18000 MHz
Radeon RX 6300M 768 @ 1.51 GHz128 Bit @ 18000 MHz
M3 Max 40-Core GPU 40
M3 Max 30-Core GPU 30
M3 Pro 18-Core GPU 18
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU 14
M3 10-Core GPU 10
M3 8-Core GPU 8
Pipelines14 - unified1024 - unified30 - unified
Memory TypeLPDDR5-6400GDDR6LPDDR5-6400
Shared Memorynonono
technology5 nm6 nm5 nm
Notebook Sizemedium sizedmedium sizedmedium sized
Date of Announcement31.10.2023 05.01.2023 31.10.2023
ArchitectureRDNA 2
Core Speed2000 - 2560 (Boost) MHz
Theoretical Performance11.6 TFLOPS FP16, 5.8 TFLOPS FP32
CacheL2: 1 MB, L3: 16 MB
Memory Speed18000 MHz
Memory Bus Width64 Bit
Max. Amount of Memory4 GB
APIDirectX 12_2, Shader 6.7, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan 1.3
Power Consumption80 Watt (50 - 80 Watt TGP)53 Watt
Transistors5.4 Billion
Die Size 107 mm²
FeaturesRadeon Media Engine (H.264, H.265, AV1 en- and decode)
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.amd.com
CPU in M3 Pro 14-Core GPUGPU Base SpeedGPU Boost / Turbo
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core11 x 2748 MHz, 27 W? MHz? MHz
CPU in M3 Max 30-Core GPUGPU Base SpeedGPU Boost / Turbo
Apple M3 Max 14-Core14 x 2748 MHz, 78 W? MHz? MHz

Benchmarks

3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Score
4955 Points (14%)
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Graphics
4546 Points (12%)
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Score
12994 Points (23%)
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
14696 Points (17%)
3DMark - 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited
12094 Points (14%)
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
19932 Points (28%)
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
20506 Points (18%)
Blender - Blender 3.3 Classroom METAL *
73 Seconds (8%)
Cinebench R15
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit + Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
129.9 fps (8%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit + AMD Radeon RX 6550M
134.8 fps (8%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit + Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit
99.5 % (100%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit + AMD Radeon RX 6550M
97.9 % (98%)
GFXBench - GFXBench 5.0 4K Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen
79 fps (32%)
GFXBench - GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen
178.7 fps (32%)
GFXBench - GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Offscreen
481.9 fps (36%)
GFXBench - GFXBench Car Chase Offscreen
376.3 fps (42%)
GFXBench 3.1 - GFXBench Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen
565 fps (12%)
GFXBench 3.0 - GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan Offscreen
818 fps (48%)
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
GFXBench T-Rex HD Offscreen C24Z16 + Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 - GFXBench T-Rex HD Offscreen C24Z16
1299 fps (10%)
Basemark GPU 1.2 - Basemark GPU 1.2 Vulkan Official Medium Offscreen 1080
104.6 fps (1%)
Basemark GPU 1.2 - Basemark GPU 1.2 Vulkan Official High Offscreen 2160
3.6 fps (1%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 GPU OpenCL
42798 Points (12%)
30568 Points (9%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 GPU Vulkan
29898 Points (10%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 GPU Metal
68043 Points (44%)
Power Consumption - Furmark Stress Test Power Consumption - external Monitor *
114.5 Watt (16%)
Power Consumption - The Witcher 3 Power Consumption - external Monitor *
32.8 Watt (5%)
117.7 Watt (16%)
Power Consumption - Witcher 3 Power Consumption *
42.8 Watt (9%)
115.8 Watt (25%)
Power Consumption - Witcher 3 ultra Power Efficiency
0.9 fps per Watt (90%)
Power Consumption - Witcher 3 ultra Power Efficiency - external Monitor
min: 1.189     avg: 1.2     median: 1.2 (99%)     max: 1.207 fps per Watt
Emissions Witcher 3 Fan Noise + Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU
Emissions - Witcher 3 Fan Noise
25.1 dB(A) (40%)
Witcher 3 Fan Noise + AMD Radeon RX 6550M
52 dB(A) (83%)

Average Benchmarks Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU → 0% n=

Average Benchmarks AMD Radeon RX 6550M → 0% n=

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Total War Pharaoh

Total War Pharaoh

2023
low 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
193  fps
med. 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
125  fps
high 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
67  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
53  fps
QHD 2560x1440
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
35  fps
Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty

Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty

2023
low 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
62.8  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
45.9  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
34.7  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
28.6  fps
QHD 2560x1440
Radeon RX 6550M:
17.3  fps
low 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
61.6  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
52.9  fps
high 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
42  fps
106%
Radeon RX 6550M:
44.7  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
39  fps
110%
Radeon RX 6550M:
43  fps
QHD 2560x1440
Radeon RX 6550M:
29  fps
F1 22

F1 22

2022
low 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
132.5  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
120.8  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
87.5  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
19.3  fps
QHD 2560x1440
Radeon RX 6550M:
11.3  fps
low 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
124.1  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
95.5  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
59.7  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
30.3  fps
QHD 2560x1440
Radeon RX 6550M:
27.2  fps
med. 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
75  fps
high 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
49.5  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
35.9  fps
QHD 2560x1440
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
22.5  fps
med. 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
66  fps
high 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
60  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
53  fps
QHD 2560x1440
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
34  fps
Strange Brigade

Strange Brigade

2018
low 1280x720
Radeon RX 6550M:
319  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
122.5  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
101.1  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
88.4  fps
Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5

2018
low 1280x720
Radeon RX 6550M:
115  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
91  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
84  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
79  fps
low 1280x720
Radeon RX 6550M:
53.7  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
41.2  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
33  fps
low 1280x720
Radeon RX 6550M:
129.3  fps
med. 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
67.4  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
47.8  fps
QHD 2560x1440
Radeon RX 6550M:
31.2  fps
low 1280x720
Radeon RX 6550M:
137.1  fps
med. 1366x768
Radeon RX 6550M:
127.3  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
112.3  fps
ultra 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
103  fps
low 1024x768
Radeon RX 6550M:
277.2  fps
med. 1366x768
Radeon RX 6550M:
171.5  fps
high 1920x1080
Radeon RX 6550M:
83.2  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
39  fps
127%
Radeon RX 6550M:
49.4  fps
GTA V

GTA V

2015
high 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
79  fps
ultra 1920x1080
100%
M3 Pro 14-Core GPU:
50  fps

Average Gaming Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU → 100%

Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 100%

Average Gaming AMD Radeon RX 6550M → 114%

Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 114%

Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPUlowmed.highultraQHD4K
Total War Pharaoh193125675335
Baldur's Gate 34239
Total War: Three Kingdoms7549.535.922.5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider66605334
The Witcher 339
GTA V7950
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps



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AMD Radeon RX 6550Mlowmed.highultraQHD4K
Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty62.845.934.728.617.3
Baldur's Gate 361.652.944.74329
F1 22132.5120.887.519.311.3
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands124.195.559.730.327.2
Strange Brigade319122.5101.188.4
Far Cry 5115918479
X-Plane 11.1153.741.233
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark129.367.447.831.2
Dota 2 Reborn137.1127.3112.3103
The Witcher 3277.2171.583.249.4
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps

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For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)