Apple M2 (8-GPU) vs Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU). Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• Family
  Apple M series Apple M series
• CPU group
  Apple M2 Apple M1
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Generation
  2 1
• Predecessor
  Apple M1 --

Basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base and turbo frequency, and cache size. These parameters indirectly tell about the speed of the processor, the higher they are the better.

• CPU Cores / Threads
  8 / 8 20 / 20
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A-Core
  4x Avalanche 16x Firestorm
• B-Core
  4x Blizzard 4x Icestorm
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• A-Core Frequency
  3.50 GHz 3.20 GHz
• B-Core Frequency
  2.80 GHz 2.06 GHz

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• GPU name
  Apple M2 (8 Core) Apple M1 Ultra (64 Core)
• GPU frequency
  1.40 GHz 1.30 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo No turbo
• Execution units
  128 1024
• Shader
  1024 8192
• Max. GPU Memory
  24 GB 64 GB
• Max. displays
  2 3
• Generation
  2 1
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q2/2022 Q1/2022

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h264
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP8
  Decode Decode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• AV1
  No No
• AVC
  Decode Decode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) and Apple M2 (8-GPU). Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• Memory type
  LPDDR5-6400 LPDDR5-6400
• Max. Memory
  24 GB 128 GB
• Memory channels
  2 (Dual Channel) 8 (Octa Channel)
• Bandwidth
  102.4 GB/s 819.2 GB/s
• ECC
  No No
• PCIe
  4.0 4.0
• AES-NI
  Yes Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M2 (8-GPU) and Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) to select a cooling system. Note, the TDP value refers to thermal watts, not electrical watts.

• TDP (PL1)
  22 W 60 W
• TDP up
  -- 120 W
• TDP down
  10 W --
• Tjunction max.
  100 °C --

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M2 (8-GPU) and Apple M2 (8-GPU), virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Chip design
  Chiplet Chiplet
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• L2-Cache
  20.00 MB 52.00 MB
• Architecture
  M2 M1
• Operating systems
  macOS, iPadOS macOS
• Virtualization
  Apple Virtualization Framework Apple Virtualization Framework
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• Release date
  Q2/2022 Q1/2022
• Documents
  Technical data sheet --